Just Promise Me
by SarahsOblivion
Summary: YOU HAVE TO BREAK A PROMISE TO KEEP A PROMISE! Peeta Abernathy has always admired Katniss Everdeen from afar. His girlfriends last dying wish was for him to talk to Katniss, he promised of course. But too many things are getting in the way. Will he be able to keep his promise or will it be too late?
1. Chapter 1

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**THE POWER OF A PROMISE! **

**CHAPTER 1. **

The day started out like any other day. I wake up at around 5:00am like usual. I get changed like usual. I get my usual breakfast. 2 pancakes with syrup, tea with no sugar and a random Capitol news show on the little TV in the kitchen. Caesar Flickerman talking about the 74th hunger games reaping in a week. I eat at the kitchen counter because dad is passed out on the dining room table with a bottle of liquor in his hands like usual.

Dad was the winner of the 50th hunger games and he has been drinking ever since. I've tried to tell him to stop and he would say that he would give up but every morning I find him in the same position. My mother and twin sister, Rosie, both live in the Capitol and I only see them once a year when mum comes over to reap 2 unlucky children for the games. I'm surprised that I haven't been reaped yet, being a child of the only living victor in district 12. Rosie normally stays with me whilst dad goes to the Capitol with the 2 unlucky children and mum.

I finish my breakfast, place the cup and plate in the washing up bowl, switch off the TV and walk to the front door. I pull on my boots and my big leather jacket and walk out the door. Dad knows where I'll be going so there's no need to leave a note any more.

I leave the victors village gates and walk into the seam. Sometimes I don't like walking through here, especially at night because a lot of people watch me go. Everyone in the seam is really poor and I want nothing more than to help them but I can't help them all. Dad doesn't give me enough money a week. He makes me buy his liquor from the hob sometimes. I used to be scared to go in there aswell but now I'm used to it. I walk through the seam quickly with my head down and carry on to the town square.

When I get to the square I walk to the doors of the bakery. I've worked here since I was 12 and I spend most of my time here when I'm not at school.

"Hey Peet! How's Haymitch doing?" I hear Chris say. Chris is the bakers oldest son.

"Dads passed out as usual." I say laughing, "Where are John and Rye?" I ask.

Rye is Johns other son. He used to have a daughter called Poppy, she was a year younger than me and had a huge crush on me, even after I agreed to date her not long before the reaping. She died in the Hunger Games last year. The 73rd Hunger Games. Mrs Mellark has hardly talked to anybody since. She spends all her time in her room.

"Dad is upstairs giving mum breakfast and Rye's in the back." Chris says.

"Ok I'll go and help Rye." I say. I ditch my coat on the hook by the door and pull on my apron before I walk past Chris into the back.

Before Poppy died, Rye was the kind of person to joke all the time and him and Poppy where like best friends so when she died, he started to be more serious. He does crack a joke now and then but it's not the same without her.

"Hey Rye!" I say when I walk into the room. He turns around with a tray of cookies in his hand.

"Oh, hey Peet! How are you?" He asks, turning around to deal with the cookies again.

"I'm fine. Need some help?"

"Yeah sure, there's some bread in the other oven, can you check on it please?"

"Yeah." There's 3 ovens in the bakery. 2 in the shop kitchen and 1 in the house kitchen. They don't normally use the family oven so I walk over to the other side of the kitchen counter where the other oven is and open the door. The bread is still pale on top which means it isn't cooked yet, it has to be brown on the top to be cooked. "It's not done yet"

I work in the bakery all day as usual until the place closes and I have to go home. John tries to give me some money for helping but I don't take it as usual.

When I make it back to the Victors Village, it's dark but I can still see a small person walking towards my door.

"Katniss!" I shout, she spins around. Katniss Everdeen has been trading with me and dad for 3 years now and before that he would come trading with her dad, but he sadly died in a mining explosion.

When I catch up to her I see that her game bag looks a lot fuller than usual. "Looks like you've got a lot today." I say trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, I only just got back into the district so I came through the opening just outside the Village and I came here first." She says looking at the floor.

We get to my door in no time. I ask her if she wants to come in but she doesn't accept, saying that she doesn't have time. I run into the house and see that dad is still passed out. I walk into the kitchen and take some coins out of the money jar.

I pass Katniss 3 gold coins and she gives me 2 squirrels which will be good for mine and dad's dinner tonight.

She doesn't say another word just pockets the money and walks away. I shut the door and take the squirrels to the kitchen.

For tea I make some type of squirrel stew that Poppy taught me to make when we where younger. She taught me to make a lot of things. The stew consists of squirrel, potatoes, carrots and mushroom. With some gravy. Someday I hope to get more people over for dinner, like some of my friends from school or the Mellarks or even Katniss. I've been in love with Katniss since the first day of school and I can never seem to get her out of my head.

Even Poppy thought that I had loved her, she alway knew that I was in love with Katniss. I had agreed to go out with Poppy two months before the reaping and she couldn't have been more happy. After about a week, I realised that I would never have a chance with Katniss and I learnt to love Poppy. The next time she told me she loved me, I replied with 'I love you too' and it was true, she was an amazing girl and I could see myself getting married to her some day. I was still in love Katniss but I started to love Poppy as equally as I did Katniss, if not maybe a little more. Poppy knew this and was ok with it most of the time and then the reaping happened and my world crumbled down. Katniss had been reaped and my heart melted, I didn't think the day could get any worse until Poppy volunteered. I had made Poppy a promise that if she was reaped then I would not volunteer to save her.

I think back to our last conversation. It was in the justice building in the room where we get to say goodbye. The first people to go in the room where of course the Mellarks, then Poppy's best friend, then finally me. I had been outside the room with my head in my hands and I didn't realise I was crying until my hands left my face, wet.

When I had walked in, she was standing at the window in the knee length purple dress with long sleeves that I had bought her for her 14th birthday a couple weeks before. I could hear her lightly sobbing.

"Poppy?" I said quietly and before I knew it she was in my arms and we where both crying.

"It's going to be ok." She said pulling away from me.

"No, it's not. I should have volunteered." I said.

"No you shouldn't have."

"Well why did you, and for Katniss, you've been jealous of her for years." I said loudly.

"I did it for you." She whispered. She had her hands against my chest and was looking at her shoes.

"Why?" I put my hand under her chin so he looks up to me. "Don't you see! You're not doing me any favours by getting yourself killed."

"I did it because I know that you love Katniss and I know that whenever you see her, your face lights up and you can't stop looking at her."

"No! You don't understand!" I grab her by her shoulders. "I LOVE YOU!" I shout.

"I know you do and I love you too, more than anyone but you love her more than you love me and with me out of the picture you can be with her." She said. "Just promise me that you will atleast talk to her for me."

"Only if you promise to come back to me." I said with more tears falling down my face. She reaches up and wipes them off, but they keep coming.

"Ok I promise, I'll do the best I can."

"I promise then." I pulled her towards me and kissed her on top of her head.

The peacekeepers showed up to take me out. "Times up!" One announced.

I pulled away from Poppy and kissed her. Our first kiss. I don't know why we never kissed before but we never thought the need to.

"I love you Poppy Mellark!" I said.

"I love you too Peeta Abernathy!" She shouted back as I was being pulled from the room. "Never forget!"

"I won't!" I shouted. I left the justice building to see Chris, John and Rosie there. That was the first time I saw Rosie since the year before and I had tears rolling down my face by the bucket load, my face was all red and I had to repeatedly wipe the snot that was coming out of my nose. My legs felt week and I didn't even have enough strength to walk over to them.

Chris and John must have told her what happened because as soon as I slid down the wall to the floor, screaming, she ran over to comfort me. She held me there whilst I cried over my broken heart until everyone had gone home and Poppy and been taken to the Capitol.

Katniss came to see us the next day but I had been in my dad's study painting. She had told Rosie to tell me how sorry she was and if she could reverse it she would but I couldn't talk to her after she was the reason Poppy volunteered.

I hadn't kept that against her for long when I realised that I needed to keep the promise and I started to try to talk her at school. She doesn't talk to me that much but still more than she used to.

It seems that I had kept my promise to Poppy by talking to Katniss, but Poppy didn't keep hers. I'm sure I'll see her again, sometime but not yet, not yet. When my time comes I will be with her, but at the moment, something is keeping me on earth.

I'm brought out of the memory by a really loud ringing. Dad stirs but doesn't lift his head off the table.

"Peet get the phone!" He mumbles.

I roll my eyes, "Dad don't go back to sleep, dinners almost ready." I shout, running from the room to get the phone.

"In not hungry!" He says as I pick up the phone.

"I don't care!" I shout to him before putting the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Haymitch! It's Effie!" She shouts down the phone. I pull the phone away from my ear quickly.

"Mum! It's Peeta stop shouting!" I reply.

"Oh Peeta! You sound so much like your dad."

"I don't sound anything like dad!" I say defensively.

"Peeta forget it! I need to talk to your dad." She says. "Is he there?"

"Yeh but I think he's gone back to sleep."

"Well wake him up! It's really important."

"Fine!" I roll my eyes. "DAD!" I shout through the house. "Mums on the phone... Says it's important!"

That got him moving. I hear shuffling and he leaves the kitchen with a bottle of liquor still in his hand. "Give me that!" He says and I hand him the phone. I walk back into the kitchen but keep my ear to the door.

"Effie?" I hear dad say. "Yeh it's Haymitch, what's wrong?... WHAT!... He cant do that!... How did he find out ... What's he going to do ... For how long... Forever?... What about you? ... Ok..." He pulls the phone away from his eat. "Peeta! Come here!"

I take a second before walking out. "What's wrong?"

"Effie needs to talk to you!" He hasn't really called her my mum since Rosie moved to the Capitol when I was 5.

"Yes mum?" I ask into the phone as dad walks away.

"Peeta! I need to talk to you. I've just explained all this to your dad and I know that he wouldn't have told you properly." She says.

"Mum what's wrong? Your scaring me." I say.

"Well, the thing is, Rosie is coming to live with you and Haymitch."

"Yeh I know, she does every year." I say.

"No, I mean for good." Mums crying.

"What? Why?"

"Because president snow found out that she was Haymitchs daughter and he was furious. He threatened to have her killed but I bargained with him and he said that she had to come an live in district 12 and I can never see her again, unless of course she is reaped for the hunger games."

"It will be okay mum I promise, will you be able to talk to her on the phone?"

"Yes but I won't be able to see her! I might be able to come and see you before the reaping but only for about 10 minutes."

"I promise mum, I'll keep good care of her."

"I know you will." She says.

"Please can I talk to her?" I ask

"Yeh she's here now!" She says. "Love you."

"Love you too mum bye."

"Peet!" I hear Rosie say. She sounds like she's been crying or she was just screaming about something.

"Rosie are you ok?" I ask. I know full well that she isn't. My mum always used to say that twins are connected and they can tell what the other one is feeling and they do a lot better together than apart. I didnt believe her until Rosie left for the Capitol. I didn't speak to anyone for about 2 months and sometimes id have a random wave of sadness wash over me and i'd ring Rosie and she would be crying. Other times when I would be crying, Rosie would ring me.

"Ok? Ok?" She shouts. "Mum just told me that I have to come and live with you guys and that I can't see her again!"

"Ok Rosie calm down I know she just told me."

I hear her take a breath. "Ok I'm sorry but how can I live without my mum?"

"Look I know it sounds bad but it's not that bad, there are many times I just want to talk to her because I hardly get to talk to dad anymore but I can call her everyday. I haven't talked to mum properly in 7 years." I say. I don't really get to see mum on reaping day. We only get 5 minutes and that's normally to say 'good luck'.

"Yeh you're right, I'm being selfish. You never get to see mum and I get to see dad every year for a month and you have to go to that terrible reaping every year and then there's your girlfriend-"

"Rosie! Can we please not talk about that?" I say looking at my shoes. The only bad thing about Rosie is that she never knows when to shut up.

I remember the day that would have been mine and Poppy's one year anniversary. I spent 3 hours on the phone with Rosie because she kept talking, telling me everything that she knew about Poppy until I was sitting on the floor with my knees up to my chest and head in my hands, crying. The phone lay forgotten on the floor beside me.

"Peeta?" Rosie says. "You ok?"

"Yeh sorry!" I shake my head to clear the memory. "What where you saying?"

"Nothing! I was trying to get you to talk to me."

"Oh ok. So what time you going to get here." I ask.

"Tomorrow around 10:00am" she says. "I'm getting on the train tonight."

"I won't be able to pick you up because I'm at school then, it's Monday tomorrow." I say, a little disappointed.

"Yeh I know, I worked that out myself." She laughs.

"I could persuade dad to pick you up!" I say.

"No it's fine, mums driver, Daniel, is coming and we are going to get a car to school so mum can see you before she gets back on the train and we are going to drop my stuff off at dads. Mum just started packing, I have to go and help her."

"Okay well I'll sort your room out because my art supplies are still in there." I say. "I'll just move into my room or persuade dad to give me the study room upstairs and he can have the one downstairs, not that he uses it though."

She laughs. "Yeh well I'll ring you from the train, tomorrow morning around 7 I'm guessing you'll be at the bakery?" She's had the number for the bakery since I was around 14 and dad got sick of answering the phone. John didn't mind so I gave her the number.

"No I'll be here, I'm not needed tomorrow morning."

"Ok I'll ring you at 7 then."

"Ok bye Rosie."

"Bye peet! I love you pebble!" The only reason she called me pebble is because once when we where younger, we where playing out in the victors village, under dad's watchful eye, and she found a pebble and drew a face on it, claiming that it was me and called it Peeta pebble.

I laugh. "I love you too Rosie, I'll see you tomorrow." I hang up the phone and walk back into the kitchen. I didn't tell her but i'm actually really excited that she is coming to live with us.

That night at dinner, I talk to dad who agrees to let me have the study upstairs but I have to share it with Rosie. I agree obviously. I walk upstairs to sort out Rosie's room. When we where younger, me and Rosie shared a room but when she got older, she had to have her own room. At first she was reluctant to sleep in her own room so sometimes when she cant sleep, she comes into my room and sleeps in my bed. A couple years ago dad ordered me a double bed but kept a single bed in Rosie's room because she was hardly ever here and when she was here she would sleep in my room or in dad's room because he was in the Capitol. She said it was because she didn't like her room but I think it was an excuse to sleep in my room.

I walk into her room, there are paintings and paints all over the place. I pick up as many paintings as I can and walk down the hall and drop them all into the office.

I have the whole room free of my stuff in no time. Rosie's room consists of a bed with flowery covers, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, 3 shelves that stretch the length of the wall. 1 and a half full of books, no doubt she will bring more with her. I've never met a girl so obsessed with books.

3 of the walls are yellow but the last one has a big painting that I did for her 2 years ago. When she showed up that year she nearly fainted.

It's a big picture of me, her, mum and dad in the meadow. It was when we where 3. On one side, mum and dad stand. Dad has his arm around mums shoulders and mum is hugging him. They both look down at me and Rosie. We have joined hands and are spinning round in a circle. Rosie is wearing a little purple dress and I'm wearing some black jeans and a white shirt. She loved this picture. Sometimes I'd catch her looking at it an when I asked what's wrong she'd say, "What happened to our family peet?" With tears in her eyes and I'd give her a hug and we would look at the picture, talking until the sun finally went down.

That night it took me hours to get to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Rosie. Everytime she comes here, i'm scared that she isn't going to fit in. Of course, she does. She made friends with everyone I hang around. She even made friends with Madge Undersee and is with Katniss sometimes. She comes to the bakery with me a lot an they treat her like a little sister. She also had district 12 clothes along with Capitol clothes. I've got the same because mum always buys me Capitol clothes. I only wear them on reaping day. The rest of the time I wear my district 12 clothes. Rosie says that she hates the Capitol clothes because it's all a little too much for her.

I finally get to sleep at around 2:00am I have to get up at 5:00am so I don't get much sleep. I only get up at 5 because normally i'm needed at the bakery and the days I'm not, I just watch TV or go for a walk after eating breakfast.

I'm woke up by ringing sound. I look at the clock. 7:07am how did I sleep so late. I grab the phone on my bed side table. It has a different number than the downstairs one, "Hello?" I mumble, rubbing my eyes.

"Hi Peet!" I hear Rosie say. "I called the house phone but nobody answered so I rang your bedroom phone."

"Oh yeh sorry, I didn't get to sleep till late last night so I slept in." I reply.

"Yeh I guessed!" She laughs. "Peet listen, the train was early last night and I know I said I would ring you at 7 which I am, but I thought it would be better if you could see me instead!"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Duh! Peet I'm outside, talking on the car phone, mums here, I tried the door but it was locked so come downstairs and open it! Lazy!"

"Right I'm coming!" I say happily. I can't believe she is here early. I slam the phone down on the receiver and jump out of bed. I pull on a plain white shirt and some jeans, lying at the end of my bed.

I run out of my door and down the hall practically jumping down the stairs to get to the door. I look towards the victors village gates to see a long black car. I walk back into the house and pull on my shoes that sit next to the door and step outside again, shutting the door behind me.

I walk down the steps, keeping my eye on the car. The door opens and Rosie steps out. Mum gets out the other side. They both have massive smiles on their faces. I run to meet Rosie and she runs to me. I meet her halfway and she throws her arms around me.

"I've missed you Pebble!" She says.

"I've missed you too Rosie so much!" I say. I push her away and grab her shoulders. "You look different." It's true, her face looks older, she's wearing a tiny bit of make up and her hair is longer. She hasn't grown though, she is barely up to my shoulders.

Mum walks over and gives me a hug. "It's great to see you Peeta!" She says with a smile.

"You too mum!" I say. "Do you want to come inside? Dads still asleep." Dan (mums driver) walks over and puts down Rosie's cases.

"No I've got to get back to the train station, but I'll try and come and see you next week at the reaping." She says, gives us both a hug and walks back to the car. "I love you both" she shouts.

"Love you too mum." We both shout back.

"Nice to see you again Peet!" Dan days, extending his hand to me.

"You too Dan." I take his hand and give it a little shake before dropping it.

"Sad circumstances though." He replies. "It's been a pleasure driving you around everywhere miss trinket."

"It's Miss Abernathy in district 12 Dan." Rosie smiles.

"Right well it's been a pleasure either way." He smiles.

"Thanks Dan, that means a lot." She walks over and gives him a hug. "I'll miss you talking to me every morning whilst mums working." I can see tears on her cheeks. I had no idea these two where that close.

"Me too, I'll see you next week anyway." He says pulling away and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Good bye, Miss Abernathy."

"Bye Dan." She says, he gives me a little wave and runs off to the car again. I pick up 2 of Rosie's cases and she takes the other one and we walk to my house.

When we get inside, dads sat at the bottom of the stairs without a drink for once. He looks almost sober too, he must have really tried. "Where Effie?" He asks as I place down Rosie's cases.

"She had to go back to the train station to catch the train." I say. He nods, then looks at Rosie.

"It's great to see you Rosalyn." He say and extends his hand towards her. I don't think dad has hugged anyone for about 7 years when Rosie hugged him before leaving and he hugged her back.

"Dad, it's Rosie not Rosalyn." She says laughing.

"Okay... Rosie..." He says with an awkward smile.

"Well... Anyway... Rosie come on, we can drop your stuff off upstairs then we can set off for school." Rosie normally starts school the day after she arrives but this time she's here early so she can come today. Everybody at school just thinks she used to live across town and was home schooled and she didn't visit us very much.

"Yeh sounds good I can't wait to see everyone again." She smiles.

"Come on then." I take 2 of her cases whilst she takes the other one and we walk to her room.

We eventually get to school around 7:55am. With 5 minutes to spare before class starts, we sit in the cafeteria. It's a very small cafeteria and it only has around 8 tables in it. Me and Rosie sit at one of the smaller ones in the back corner and try not to draw attention to ourselves. Of course that doesn't work, being children of the only victor in the district, people always find us.

My friends find us in no time. "ROSIE!" I hear from the cafeteria door. Delly Cartwright, my closest friend, comes running over and pulls Rosie into a hug. "Peeta didn't tell me you where coming early."

"Well neither of us actually knew until last night, the people who looked after me sent me back to live with dad last night, I got here about an hour ago."

"That's amazing but why did they send you back?" Delly asks.

"Because I asked them too. I wanted to see Peet." She smiles and wraps her arms around my middle.

"I understand. Peeta is an amazing guy." Delly says, giving me a wink. I laugh at her.

"I know." Rosie replies.

"Ok girls, come on we better be getting to class."

In class, Rosie sits next to me, in Delly's usual place. Delly sits with her friend River, on the table infront of Katniss. River is in mine and Delly's group of friends. He's been my friend since we where 9 and he's been Delly's since we where 12.

Miss Phelps, our teacher, walks in, carrying an armful of books and paper. "Hello class!" She says, with a smile.

She places down her books and paper and turns to is all, whilst sitting on her desk. "Now, the first thing we need to discuss today is..." She trails off, then looks at me and Rosie, before carrying on. "Now you all know, that this time of year, we have a new student. Normally it is a week from now, after the reaping, but this year she's here a week early and I believe that she will be staying for good now?" I nod to her. "Good, so let us all welcome back, Rosalyn Abernathy." A few people clap. "Peeta, I expect you to catch Rosie up on what she doesn't know?"

"Will do, Miss Phelps." I smile.

"Thank you Peeta!"

I spend most of that hour, filling in Rosie on what she has missed. I've hardly payed any attention to Miss Phelps and I think someone is going to have to fill me in aswell.

When the lesson finishes, Me, Delly and Rosie go down the hall to the next class. We are pretty much in the same seating arrangement and we have the same students in our class. The only difference is our teacher, Mr Beech. He seems to hate us all. He's a little smaller then me, pretty chubby and has black hair that reaches his chin with a few grey strands and bright grey eyes. He's probably around 50 and lives in The Seam.

"About time you all showed up!" He says as well all walk through the door.

We all take our usual seats and Mr Beech begins talking about the history of Panem. Eventually the topic of my father comes up. "So as you all know, there has been 2 victors from District 12 but only one lives today. Haymitch Abernathy. He won the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the second Quarter Quell where the twist was that double the amount of people went into the arena. It came as a surprise to everyone when a 16 year old boy from the seam was able to make it out of the arena alive... I knew Haymitch when he was a kid, I babysat for him a couple of times whilst his parents where at work... He was a nice boy, always playful." He looks towards me. "Of course he didn't do too bad for himself, he may not talk to anyone anymore but he has two children. Peeta and Rosalyn."

The lesson drags on as Mr Beech talks. I let my mind wonder to the bakery. I'm going there after school today. Maybe I can take Rosie with me too. I still haven't told them about her being here and i'm sure they'll be really happy. I think that maybe Rye has a little crush on her because everytime he sees her, he can't stop smiling. Last year it was different though because he had just lost his sister. I haven't talked to him yet though because -

"Peeta Abernathy! Are you paying attention in my class or are you going to leave?" Mr Beech says, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Anything you want to share with the class? Want to tell us what you where thinking about."

"Nothing sir." I reply. "Just what I'm doing later."

"Well don't think about that in my classroom." He says and goes back to the lesson.

Eventually the lesson ends and we all go for a break. Every day for school, we start at 9 and have 2 hours of lessons then at 11:05 we have a 15 minute break until 20 past then we have an hour lesson, at 12:20 we have half an hour dinner until 12:50. Then two hours of lessons again and then we finally get to go home at 2:50. Every 2 years have a different dinner. Us and the year above us have a dinner at 12:50 then the two below us have half an hour earlier than us. It's only because the cafeteria is too small for more than 2 years. Even then some people don't actually get to sit in it but on a sunny day like this, most people sit outside in the school yard so their should be enough room.

Me and Rosie decided to spend our break time outside with half of the school. I don't understand why people would want to stay inside on a day like this. It's almost all the town's people that stay inside, all the seams people are outside. Me, Rosie and Delly are the only ones outside at the moment from town. Well sort of. Me and Rosie are officially from the Victors Village but we hang around with towns people so everyone just classes us as towns people. Plus we also look like towns people with the blonde hair and blue eyes which we both get from our mother. Dad has black hair and grey eyes. He used to be from the seam. I suppose this is the reason that most of the seam people are tanned and the town's people are pale. Seam people aren't stupid and see that when it's sunny you should go outside.

All three of us take a seat on one if the benches at the back of the school yard, next to an oak tree. Delly in the middle, Rosie on her left and me on her right. As usual, Delly turns to Rosie and starts talking to her. I lean back against the back of the bench and watch the seams people. Black haired people running around everywhere. All having fun. It makes me smile. The fact that people who are so poor can have so much fun, makes me happy. One day I hope to help them all. Everyone should live the same. I catch sight of a certain girl, standing next a smaller blonde girl. Her black braid is swinging from side to side in the wind and she's smiling. The smile on my face grows wider. Everything seems to slow down as she starts laughing. The sun gleaming down and the black of her hair hardly noticeable against the black wall behind her. Her grey hair shining in the sun as she looks down to her little sister. In my head I can hear the sound of her laughing. It's beautiful and one day I wish to make her laugh so much that she can't stop. I want to make her laugh everyday for the rest of my laugh.

I'm broken out of my thoughts by a hand. A hand waving in front of my obviously trying to get my attention. "Peeta? Hello? Are you in there?" I turn around to see Rosie and Delly staring at me. "Could you be any more In love with her?" Delly asks with a smile on her face.

"I probably could!" I say but still laugh.

"Just talk to her." Rosie says.

"You know I can't." I reply.

"So what? You're just going to break a promise? Is that who you really are?" Rosie says, with a hard look on her face.

"I don't want to break a promise, I'll talk to her eventually, just not today." I say and Rosie shrugs her shoulders.

"Fine! Just don't leave it too long or I'm gonna talk to her." Rosie says. "It's the reaping next week, for all you know , you might not even get a chance to talk to her, and no way are you telling her during the goodbyes! I don't think that would be something that she would want to hear when she's going to almost certain death."

"Ok fine! I'll talk to her but what do I say?" I ask, trying to find the courage to actually stand up and walk over.

"The truth. Nothing but the truth." Rosie says. "I can't believe you're actually gonna go up to the girl you've been in love with for 10 years I didn't think this would happen."

" very funny Rosie, right I'm gonna do this because I need to." I say and pull myself to my feet. My brain is telling me to sit back down and not be foolish but my heart is telling me to walk over there and talk to her. I lock my eyes on her, as if to calm myself down. It works part of the way until she turns towards me and locks her eyes with mine. She looks confused. I expected that but I still need to talk to her. Out of the corner of my eye I see Primrose turn to me and look back at Katniss with a smile on her face. Primrose knows of my affections towards her big sister because she comes by the bakery a lot and must have seen the way look at Katniss because one day she decided to come in and ask me about it. I told her and she promised not to say anything to Katniss. That was 2 years ago. Neither one of us have broken eye contact yet and a smile has crept up on my face. She smiles back at me awkwardly.

When I'm about 2 metres away from Katniss, someone grabs my arm and pulls me away. "Peeta, I need to talk to you." Rye stands there with a smile on his face. I take a second to look back over to Katniss but she's gone. "Sorry did I interrupt something?" Rye asks.

"Not really, I was just about to talk to Katniss." I say, looking back towards him.

"Oh God, I'm sorry." Rye says laughing. He knows that I've never had the courage to talk to Katniss so he knows that him interrupting me was annoying.

"What do you want Rye?" I ask.

"I was wondering if you could work tonight. Chris was sick this morning so Dad told him to stay In bed for the day, at the moment it's just him and mum working but we need your help tonight because we normally have a lot of customers after school." He says.

"Yeh sure, I was gonna come by anyway because I was gonna bring someone along with me." I say smiling.

"Who?" He asks, rather confused.

"Well it was meant to be a surprise but Rosie got here this morning, something happened with mum and now she lives with us permanently. You finally have a shot with her!"I say slapping him on the arm.

"Yeh right!" He says laughing. "I have about as much of a shot with her as you do with Katniss, as if I'd have a shot with someone from the capitol." I laugh.

"I'll see you later Rye, lesson starts in a minute." I say

"Yeh I'll see you and Rosie later." He walks away smiling.

I hear the school bell ring through the school yard, signalling that it's time to go back to lesson. The school yard empties within seconds until it's just me standing there. I feel someone tap me on the shoulder and I spin around. Delly and Rosie are standing there with smiles on their faces. "What happened?" Rosie asks.

"Nothing I didn't talk to her." I say walking away.

"What? Why?" Delly replies, sounding surprised as they hurry along behind me.

"Well I almost got to her and I was confident to talk to her but then Rye pulled me away from her, he asked me to work at the bakery later because Chris is Ill and when I turned around again, Katniss was gone." I say with a hint of sadness in my voice.

"Well that's Rye's fault, you can talk to her at dinner." Rosie says. I turn around to face her and they both stop.

"No Rosie I don't think that I can." I reply.

"Why not?" She asks.

"Because I Already got my hopes up today and had the courage to do it. I don't think I can get my hopes up twice. Something will happening it always does." I say to her.

"Peet it will be fine I promise." Rosie says hugging me.

"Thanks Rosie." I reply hugging her back. "What would I do without you." I laugh.

"You wouldn't do anything pebble." She replied laughing.

"Please don't call me that in the school grounds." I say.

"I think it's cute." Delly says over Rosie's shoulder. I smile at her but I'm still shaking my head.

"It's embarrassing." I reply. Rosie pulls away from me with a smile on her face. She turns to Delly and starts laughing. "What's funny." I ask even though I'm laughing too.

"Nothing doesn't matter now let's get to lesson. Mrs Myers is going to kill us." Delly says.

Mrs Myers is a 40 year old woman. She's got blonde and grey hairs on her head, I believe stress has caused her to have more grey hairs than any other normal human being in the district. She has blue eyes. Wrinkles everywhere. A really long nose and is just about the meanest person you would ever come across in your life. Her husband died a few years ago and ever since, she has been horrible to just about everyone. When you walk into her lesson more than 10 minutes late, it's worse than signing your own death warrant. When me Delly and Rosie walk into her lesson 15 minutes late though she surprises us by not being that horrible.

"Peeta Abernathy, care to tell the class why you, Miss Abernathy and Miss Cartwright are late to my lesson." She doesn't even look angry.

"Well we had some... Erm..." her niceness has caught me off guard and I have no idea what to say.

"We had to go to the cafeteria to let cook know that Rosie was here so she needed to make food for her at lunch." Delly says. I turn around and smile at her.

"And why did that take 3 of you?" Mrs Myers asks.

"Well we were just walking together." Rosie says.

"That is no excuse for you all to be late." She replied. "Anyway, because of your incapability to show up to my lesson on time, you have lost your seating privileges for the rest of the year in my classroom." She turns towards the class as if she's deciding where we are going to sit. "Rosalyn, you will be sitting in your usual place at the back of the class. Delly, you will be sitting next to Miss Stratser," Delly gives me a look of disgust before walking away from me to sit next to Gina Stratser. Gina lives up above the clothes shop in town with her parents and her older brother, Eric who's in Rye's year. It's next door to Dell's house, which is the district shoe shop a couple shops down from the Bakery. She's always had a very serious crush on me and hates Delly because she thinks Delly fancies me but Delly actually sees me as more of a brother or a cousin. When we where younger she used to refer to me as her cousin because we could actually pass as cousin, she said she would call me her brother If I didn't already have a sister.I'd hate to see what Gina would do to Katniss if she found out about how I feel. "Mr Abernathy-" she starts before I cut her off.

"Please don't call me Mr Abernathy. Mr Abernathy is my father and I hate being compared to my father." I say to her. She gives me an evil look.

"I will call you whatever I want in my classroom Mr Abernathy, your father is a good man and I don't know why you wouldn't want to be compared to him-" I cut her off again, I know I'm probably gonna get in trouble but the words just come out.

"My father is a drunk I am nothing like my father." I say even though it's not actually true, I am more like my father than I care to admit. The main reason being that he is my dad and I can't help being like him. Last year the day Poppy died, I went into dad's drink collection that he leaves in the basement and drunk half of it. I can't remember any of that night I just remember waking up the next morning and finding Rosie sitting In a chair in the corner, looking at me. She told me that she woke up late at night to noise downstairs and then came down and found me 'drunk on the kitchen floor in a puddle of my own tears', apparently I was more drunk than dad but I doubt that. I was obviously extremely ill the next day but we didn't tell school we just told them that I was too sad to come into school which was partly true. I had told Rosie what happened and she understood why i was drunk but told me that I needed to stop because poppy wouldn't want me to and I stopped. Dad on the other hand would not stop drinking for anyone, that's the big difference between us. I can stop something and he can't.

"Yeh okay..." Mrs Myers says obviously not believing it. "Anyway, you will be sitting next to Miss Everdeen." She says and my eyes grow wide. I turn towards Delly who smiles then I look at Rosie who is laughing. I move my feet and hesitantly take a seat next to Katniss. She looks at me and smiles awkwardly again before shuffling her chair away from mine and carrying on drawing what looks looks like a flower in the corner of her notebook. She's not very good at drawing. I smile quickly before turning back to Mrs Myers. "Also, for being late and for Mr Abernathy speaking back to me, you three are too see me after school for an hour." The smile drops from my face.

"But I have to work at the bakery after school and Delly has to work at the shoe shop." I say leaning quite far over the table, as if it's going to make her change her mind.

"You will have to tell them you can't then explain to them Why, I don't think they will be to thrilled to learn that one of their employees has detention." She says.

"I am their only employee and Chris is Ill so they need me." I say to her.

"I do not care Mr Abernathy, you will meet me after school in this room, no exceptions." She says and goes back to the lesson. Katniss looks at me giving me a knowing look with a small smile. She is always getting shouted at by Mrs Myers because she doesn't pay attention to the lesson. I can understand why, this lesson is very boring.

Whilst Mrs Myers goes on about fractions, I turn to my notebook and flip to the back where I do all my doodling. I carry on drawing a tree that I started this morning. I look over at Katniss' hand as I see it moving, she appears to be trying to draw a flower. She groans in frustration. I turn to a new page in my notebook and start to draw. Within 15 minutes I've drawn a Katniss Tuber and a Primrose flower, I scribble my initials along the bottom of the page to show that I drew it and then I silently rip it out of my notepad and slide it along the table to her. She looks down at it before looking at me and narrowing her eyes as if I laced the picture with some kind of poison. I hold up one finger and pull the picture back. I turn it over and pick up my pen. I decide to write her a note, 'I saw that you where having some trouble drawing a flower so I thought you'd appreciate it. X Peeta Abernathy.' I slide it back over to her. This time she pics it up and reads it, a smile appears on her face and she turns it over to look at the drawing. She puts it down and rips a piece of paper out of her own notepad. She scribbles something down on it and hands me the piece of paper. 'Thank you it means a lot that you would draw this for me but why did you?'

I take my own pen and scribble something back. 'Because I wanted to and I saw that you where having trouble drawing one so I drew one for you.'

'Well thank you it's beautiful.' She writes.

'I could draw you another if you want, what's your favourite flower?'

'No please don't, you don't need to.'

'But I want to, what's your favourite flower?'

'Dandelion, it was my Dads favourite flower and its also mine.'

'Dandelions are beautiful, they grow in places you wouldn't expect them too and I think that's beautiful.'

When I hand her the piece of paper back, she doesn't reply, she just smiles up at me as I check to see if Mrs Myers is still teaching. She's got her back towards us as she writes something on the black board so I turn back to Katniss and hold one finger up before reached down and silently ripping one of the pieces of paper out of my actual drawing pad. It's got really thick paper in it. I don't even have to take the lead out of my bag to get a piece of paper out of. I also take my pencil cases with my colours in, our of my bag and take out 3 different greens, 2 different yellows and 4 blues.

It takes me 30 minutes but eventually I finish the picture. I hand it to her and she looks at it. I see a smile light up on her face and a tear falls from her eye. "I'll see you tomorrow class." Mrs Myers says and I start to pack up my things.

"This really is beautiful Peeta, thank you." Katniss says still holding my drawing in her right hand. She now stands on the other side of me - I don't remember her walking behind my chair to get out - she has her bag slung over her right shoulder and has a smile on her face. I look up to her fully.

"Well it was a pleasure drawing it for you, maybe tomorrow I can draw something else for you." I say smiling. She lets out the tiniest laugh and I smile at her. That's the first time I have ever made Katniss Everdeen laugh. I can see now that the rest of the class have gone except Delly and Rosie who wait for me at the door.

"Well thank you." She smiles and turns around, walking away to the door. She pushes past Delly and Rosie, mumbling 'excuse me' and disappears out the door.

"So you finally talked to her then?" Delly says when we are in the hallway, walking to lunch.

"Not really, I drew her a picture or two but that's it." I say to her.

"Really?" Rosie asks, I nod. "You didn't tell her anything about the way you feel?"

"No... did you really think that the first thing I would say to her was 'I love you'?" I ask.

"Well, no but I thought you would have done something more interesting than that." Rosie says.

"Well sorry to disappoint you." I reply. "Now can we please eat? I'm hungry."

"Most definitely!" Delly says and we walk into the cafeteria.

I grab a tray from the pile and walk over to the cook. She puts some kind of meat on my tray with some peas and mash. It's an extremely small amount of food and after I'm done eating it I want some more. But nobody is allowed more than one helping of it. Rye walks over just as I finish reading my food. "Why are you on this lunch?" I ask him. He's not meant to be on this lunch, his lunch doesn't start for 20 minutes.

"Dad rang up school and told them that he needed me in the Bakery so I'm going home." He says with a smile on his face. "I just thought I'd come to say goodbye."

"Rye!" Rosie says as if she's just noticing him for the the first time. "It's great to see you!" What she doesn't realise is that this cafeteria is extremely small and most of the people in it have begun to turn their heads towards us. Some of them just glance over and then go back to their food but other stop to look.

"It's great to see you too, I believe that you are coming to the bakery after school?" Rye says.

Rosie opens her mouth to speak but instead I say something before she has a chance too. "About that..." Rye looks at me. "Me, Rosie and Delly have detention after school." I say.

"Why?" He asks, a little surprised, I don't normally get detention, Delly gets detention more than me but not all the time, Rosie seems to get detention every time she's here.

"It was my fault... I had to explain to them Why I didn't talk to Katniss in the school yard... so I guess that was your fault." He laughs, "so we where late to lesson and then she told us that we had to come back after school and I started back talking which was definitely my fault."

"Peeta Abernathy? Back talking? What's up with you today?" He asks laughing.

"Well to start with she compared me to my dad which you know I hate because I don't like being like my dad... then she told me that he was a good man which I said no he isn't he's a drunk. Then she told us that we had to stay behind and I said I was needed at the bakery because Chris was ill but she didn't care. So your gonna have to tell John that I'm gonna be an hour late." I say.

"Wow! I never knew you could argue with anyone other than Me, Rosie, Dell or your dad!" He says still laughing.

"Yeh well Mrs Myers is annoying!" I reply.

"And guess what Rye?" Rosie says rather loudly and enthusiastically.

"What?" Rye asks turning back to Rosie, matching her enthusiasm as a joke.

"He finally talked to Katniss!" She says, even louder. I quickly spin around to check wether she is in the room and she isn't. I let out a breath.

"That's great, did he tell her about his feeling?" Rye asks.

"No, he drew her a picture." Rosie says, disappointed.

"Peet, girls draw each other pictures, you need to tell her how you feel." He says laughing.

"Well I'm doing this my way, I'll tell her eventually." I say catching sight of Katniss walking through the door into the cafeteria.

Rosie turns around and notices her too, she turns back around to me with a mischievous grin on her face. "If you won't talk to her then I will." She says and sets of for katniss. Rye starts laughing.

"Rosie!" I shout, she doesn't turn around though, she just keeps walking towards katniss.

"Katniss!" Rosie shouts and katniss spins around. "I need to talk to you." She doesn't even make it to Katniss when I set off running for her. "You know Peeta?" I see katniss nod. "He lov-" I catch her around the waist and carry her over my shoulder out into the school yard.

"What are you doing?" I hiss.

"What do you mean, 'what am I doing', I'm talking to Katniss for you, what do you think I was doing." She shouts back.

"Well don't! I'm fine with the way things are." I shout back to her.

"Stop shouting at me! I was just trying to make things better for you because you're too scared to do it yourself." She shouts

"Hey! I am not scared, I just don't have much confidence. Remember what happened with my last girlfriend? I can't have that happen to Katniss, you don't understand, you've never been this in love with someone this much!"

"I don't care Peeta! I know that you couldn't do yourself so I tried, now I'll make you a deal." She says quieter. I nod. "Either you talk to her before Sunday or I do. The reaping is on Monday, talk to her before that. What happened to poppy should be a lesson to you, if you love someone then tell them before the reaping because they can be taken away from quicker than you can say 'hunger games'."

"Fine! Deal!" We shake on it and then walk back inside.

The rest of the day goes by slowly with a lot of not paying attention. The rest of the lessons I can sit next to Rosie again so I don't get to sit next to Katniss, if she asked me too then I would but she hasn't asked me and I can't just walk over and sit down next to someone who doesn't actually know me. Rosie decides to talk about it for the rest of the day. By the end of the day I'm surprised that katniss hasn't found out about it but I don't think Rosie told anyone she just kept talking to me about it.

At 10 to 3 we walk down to Mrs Myers classroom. Surprisingly we find Katniss outside the classroom. She stands there with her sister, whispering to her as she bends over to look in Prim's face. "Tell mum I'll be home later, then I'll go hunting for tea. I've asked Gale to walk you home." I catch her say. Prim nods and runs off.

"What are you doing here?" Rosie asks.

"Detention." She replied, looking at the floor.

"What did you do?" Delly asks, pushing past me to stand with Rosie in front of katniss. I hang back and lean against the wall.

"Just before you came in, I wasn't paying attention so she gave me detention." Katniss says, still looking towards the floor.

"Well I guess you'll be joining us." Delly says laughing.

"Yep." Katniss replies.

"I heard that Peeta drew you a picture?" Rosie says. I'm about to say something to shut Rosie up, until katniss speaks, cutting me off.

"Yeh." She mumbles. Her face is beginning to go red.

"Can I see it?" Rosie says.

Katniss slowly nods and pulls her bag around her front, routing in it before bringing out her notebook. She opens it and pulls out both pictures I drew for her this morning. She hesitantly hands them over to Rosie. She looks over them for about 10 seconds before handing them back to Katniss who places them back in her bag. "They are beautiful Peeta." Rosie says. "How come you never drew me a picture like that?" She asks, looking shocked.

"I painted your wall remember, the picture of me, you, mum and dad." I say.

"That doesn't count, I want little pictures like that!" She demands.

"Yeh me too." Delly says. They look at me for a couple of seconds whilst I'm speechless. I have no idea why I have never drawn them any pictures, I've drawn pictures of them but I've never actually drawn them pictures.

"Well... I... Erm..." I spit out, trying to come up with a reason.

Delly and Rosie burst out laugh and I let out a breath. "We're joking Peeta, we don't care." Rosie says still laughing. Suddenly Katniss starts laughing too. I forget about Rosie and Delly momentarily and look at Katniss. "Come on let's get in there before Mrs Myers gives us a longer detention.

"Hi you four, nice to see you could show up." Mrs Myers says. She sitting at her desk marking work from today when she looks up at us.

"Sorry we're late." I say.

"Is fine, your hour detention starts now." She says. We all walk through the classroom ready to sit down when Mrs Myers stops us. "Before you sit down, I have jobs for you all." She stands up and faces us all. "Peeta you are to clean the black board and clean the tables properly then put all the chairs up in the classroom after you've finished. Katniss, seen as you are intent on looking out the window, you are to clean them fully, inside and outside. There's a large window at the back of the classroom that I'm sure Peeta will be more than happy to help you through to clean the Windows outside. Delly and Rosie, you two have some errands for me. There is a lot of paper work that has to be taken to other teachers." She beckons Rosie and Delly over whilst me and Katniss stand there silently. She hands them both a huge stack of papers and takes one herself. She then turns to us. "There are cleaning supplies in the janitors room next door, just tell him you have detention and need some supplies then you can get started. I want this room pristine when we get back. We should be back in 45 minutes. I don't want any messing around. No-one leaves until I get back, if I find that you have left before the hour is up then I will make it 2 hours tomorrow for all of you and I don't think any of you want that." She gives us the slightest nod and then leaves the room with Delly and Rosie. I turn to Katniss who stands there with an awkward look on her face.

"I guess we need to get some cleaning supplies." I say. She looks at her shoes and nods. "I'll get them for you, you just wait here."

She looks up at me. "No it's fine, I'll get them." She says and sets of for the door.

"I'll come too, I'm gonna see if he has anything to clean the tables with." I say and follow her.

Within seconds we are standing outside the janitors office. The door says Mr Cole on it. His name is Collis Cole and he prefers to be known as Collis but he has to have Mr Cole printed on his door. He answers the door with a smile on his face. "Hi kids how can I help you today?" His black hair is all messed up and his blue eyes are shining. He beckons us into his office. His office is tiny and if he was fat, I'd be surprised at how he moved around the place but he's just a little bit thinner than me. "What do you need?" He asks us. "It must be important if you came after school."

"Erm... we have detention with Mrs Myers and we need a bucket of water and a sponge for the Windows and I was wondering if you had anything to clean the tables with?" I ask, he looks at us for a second as if trying to figure out who we are.

"I have just what you need." He says. He turns around and picks up two buckets. "Mr Abernathy, Miss Everdeen, could you please fill up these buckets in the sink over there?" He asks, handing us the buckets and pointing towards the sink in the corner. "I shall get you a couple of sponge's and a secret ingredient we use for cleaning tables." He winks at us and starts talking through the drawers behind him.

Me and katniss take our buckets and fill them up on the sink. There's only one sink so I have to wait for her to fill her's up. When she's finished, I stick my bucket under the tap and wait for the bucket to fill up with hot water whilst Collis mumbles on about something. I catch myself watching the room. "This is heavy!" Katniss whispers to me as I wait for mine to fill up.

I let out a little laugh and hold out my hand. "Here I'll take it." I say to her. She resists and wraps both her arms around the bucket. She has to bring up her knee to push the bucket up to stop it from falling. She still waves my hand away with a smile.

"No it's fine I got it." She says. "You've done to much for me already Peeta."

"Katniss, you're struggling, I can tell, now hand it here." I say trying to grab hold of the bucket handle. She pushes my hand away and hold onto the bucket tighter.

"Peeta, I'm totally fine..." She says. She brings her leg up again to push the bucket back up. I notice that my bucket is full and overflowing, I reach over to switch the tap off. I'm about to pick up my bucket when I hear a loud crash and spin around quickly, expecting to see that Collis has dropped something. Instead I see katniss falling to the floor. The bucket flies up and I reach over to catch it but not before the contents of the bucket falls out and onto katniss, drenching her from head to toe and the bottom half of my legs. I drop the bucket on the floor behind me and reach out a hand to Katniss, she takes it and I pull her up. When she's back on her feet, she slaps me really hard on my right arm. "What was that for?" I say rather loudly, rubbing my arm.

"That was your fault!" She says slapping me again.

"How was it my fault?" I ask, laughing slightly.

"You put me off my concentration when you tried to grab the bucket!" She shouts, trying to wipe away some of the water on her clothes. I grab the towel next to the sink and hand it to her. "Thanks..." She mumbles and starts to wipe her face down.

"Sorry about the floor Collis." I say.

"Oh no it's fine, I'll clean it up when you're gone, are you okay Miss Everdeen?" He asks, looking at Katniss.

"Yeh I'm fine, think I hit my back but other than that Yeh I'm totally fine." She reaches down to wipe her legs but groans when she gets so far.

"I guess that means you're not totally fine." Collis replies. He walks over with a grey bottle in his hands and pours a couple drops of it into my bucket before handing me 2 sponge's. "This should clean the tables." He says. "I'll just fill Miss Everdeen's bucket up for you and you can be on your way." It takes him 3 minutes to fill up Katniss' bucket. I drop a sponge into each bucket and pick them both up. Katniss opens the doors for me and before I know it, we are both back in the classroom. I carry katniss' bucket over to the back window and walk back over to mine. I clean every table and stay quiet whilst doing so. Katniss doesn't want to speak so I shouldn't force her too. If she doesn't want to speak then she shouldn't have too.

When I've finished the tables, I move onto the black board and start erasing every last number, word, shape and Mark made by the chalk. I scrub and scrub until the board looks clean again. That's when I hear a noise from the back of the classroom. I turn around to see katniss attempting to get out of the back window onto the field below. I walk over. "Do you need some help?" I ask her.

"No I got it." She says and sticks one foot through the window. She keeps going until her whole right leg is out of the window, that's when she gets stuck. The Windows that small that she can't seem to get her other leg out of the window whilst her body is in it. I let out a small laugh and grab her arms. I pull as hard as I can and her body turns back into the room. She's able to slide her other leg out of the window and she shimmies down until her feet are planted on the ground but she still has hold of my arms. "Thanks." She says looking at me. I smile at her and she smiles back mischeviously.

"Pay back." She says and pulls on my arms as hard as she can. My whole body slides through the open window quickly and I land on my front in the grass by her feet. She's stronger than she looks. I turn around onto my back and look up to her. She's laughing so much she has to hold her stomach. I smile at her and take in the moment. This is the second time I have made katniss laugh today. Yeh maybe it's because she just pulled me out of a window and now my head hurts like hell but I don't care, I made Katniss Everdeen laugh and that's all that matters to me.

"Does this mean we are even for the whole bucket thing?" I ask. She's laughing so much that she can't even speak to me so she just nods. I pull myself up to my feet and deposit my jacket through the still open window.

When Katniss stops laughing, we get to work on the Windows. When we have finished, the Windows are so clean that they don't even look like Windows anymore but holes in the wall. I smile at Katniss and she smiled back. "You did good." I say, I can't think of anything else to stay.

"You did good too." She says smiling. Her eyes focus on something inside before she looks at me again. "It's half 3, Mrs Myers will be back soon and we need to get the chairs up." I nod and we walk back up to the open window. I slide the bucket through and place it on the floor. It's still almost half full. Then I pull myself up and roll through the window head first, I lean down and roll along the floor until I'm back on my feet. I pull katniss back through the window and we start on the chairs. We have the chairs up in 5 minutes, except from 2 chairs that me and Katniss are going to sit on. As soon as all the chairs are up on the tables, I collapse on one of the still down chairs. She stands there though as if waiting for something. "What's wrong?" I ask her.

"Nothing, I just can't sit down when I'm still wet..." She says and I'm about to tell her to sit down when she speaks again. "It's fine, I need to take the buckets back anyway." I don't even have time to say anything because she's picked up the buckets and left the room within seconds.

She returns a couple minutes later without her jacket on. She must have taken it off in the janitors office. She walks over and collapses in the chair next to mine. She leans her head back on the chair and sighs. Her wet braid hanging over the back of the chair, all I want to do is reach over and touch it. I want to feel what her hair feels like in my hands. "When do you think we will get to leave?" She asks.

"Don't know." I reply. I lean my head on the desk and close my eyes. All I can hear is mine and Katniss breathing. Mine a lot heavier and deaper than hers.

Mrs Myers doesn't return until 10 to 4 and that's only to tell us we did a good job and that we can go. We grab our bags and coats and meet Delly and Rosie outside the classroom. We walk with Katniss too the school yard. She smiles and mumbles something that sounds like a goodbye then she leaves in direction of the seam.

"So explain to us everything that happened in detention, why was she wet and why are you happy?" Delly asks as we walk to the town square.

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**I hope you liked the first chapter for my new story. Please review and tell me what you though of it. Personally I am very proud of this chapter and everything else I have planned for this story but please review and let me know what you would like to happen? **

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	2. Chapter 2

**2 Chapter 2**

**So here is chapter 2 I hope you enjoy it :)**

_Last time: "So explain to us everything that happened in detention, why was she wet and why are you happy?" Delly asks as we walk to the town square_

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"Glad you could join us." Rye says as we walk through the front door of the bakery. "It's not very busy at the moment." I look up at the clock to see that it's 10 past 4. "How was detention?" He asks.

"It was alright." I say. Rosie takes a seat at the only table in the front of the bakery. "Very boring though but I suppose detention is meant to be." I laugh and swap my jacket with my apron.

"Yeh I guess so." Rye says. "What did you do?"

"Well Rosie and Delly went to do some errands with Mrs Myers and me and Katniss had to tidy the room for her." I walk over to the counter.

"Wait, Katniss? What was she doing there?" Rye asks, sounding confused.

"Mrs Myers had given her detention before we showed up to lesson." I say.

"So what did you and Katniss do?" He asks.

I explain to him everything that happened in the classroom and the janitors. By the end of the explanation, he's laughing. "What's do funny?" I ask, smiling.

"You fell... out...a window?" He asks holding his stomach.

"No, no, I was pulled out a window by a deceitful little girl." I say laughing.

"A deceitful little girl, that you love." Rosie says from behind me. I turn around and roll my eyes at her. She laughs at me.

"Anyway, what can I do to help?" I ask Rye. He takes a minute to stop laughing before he starts speaking.

"You can take over here, there's still some food left and there's only 45 minutes left until closing time. I'll go into the back and help dad clean the kitchen." He says and leaves the room, resuming his laughing.

"Do you want some help?" Rosie asks, once Rye has disappeared into the back. "I could refill the shelves If you want?"

"No I'm fine at the moment." I reply. "I don't think we need to refill the shelves again until tomorrow, besides there isn't that much food left anyway."

"Okay well I need to go and get some new shoes from Dell's." She stands up. "I only have 2 pairs of shoes left, I threw the rest away because they where too capitol like and the ones I'm wearing are falling apart anyway, do you want some shoes?"

"No I'm fine with the ones that I have at the moment." I reply. "I do have something that I need to do though, I was wondering if you could run over to the hob for me?"

"Yeh for what?" She asks, leaning across the counter top to face me.

"Well yesterday, dad asked me to get him some more liquor but I ended up working at the bakery late and when I got back to the hob it was already closed so I was going to do it today but it would be very helpful if you could do it for me?" I say to her. She nods. "Ok well you've been before haven't you?"

"No, remember, you would never let me go because it was rough in there." She says.

"Oh yeah, it definitely is rough in there especially for us two, so if you wait until I finish, I'll take you in there but don't go over the top with shopping." One thing about Rosie is that she loves to shop and in the hob everything is really cheap so it would be great for her.

She laughs at me, "As if I'd do that!" She says, I raise my eyebrows and she looks at me.

"Fine, I won't!" She says. "Just because you're a few minutes older than me, doesn't mean you can boss me around!" She says with a smile.

"If I can't boss you around them Why do you listen to me and do what I say?" I say, smiling. The door opens and Ria Harrison from the sweet shop across the square walks in.

"Because mum told me too." Rosie replies.

"Yeh right as if." I say rolling my eyes.

"No seriously, she said 'you have to listen to what Peeta and Haymitch say and do what they tell you to." She says, laughing.

"Yeh ok, go away and buy your shoes!" I say pushing her towards the door, laughing.

"Ok well I'll be back soon then." She hugs me and leaves the bakery, turning right towards the shoe shop.

"I didn't know Rosie was back in town." Ria says. "How long has she been back?"

"Just since last night." Ria and I have been friends for about 11 years. She's in the same year as me, Rosie and Dell. She sits at the front behind Gina but she's very quiet in class. We met when dad used to take me and Rosie to the sweet shop all the time for a little treat. Until Rosie moved to the capitol not long after and he would just take me. Rosie doesn't remember her though and she doesn't really talk to her when she comes over every year. I only get to see her these days when she comes into the bakery or briefly at school. She doesn't come in very often because her dad has become ill and she works full time in the sweet shop with her mum and her little brother Ross, he's 12. Ross has to go to school though because he doesn't know enough stuff to leave yet.

"How's your dad doing?" I ask.

"He getting better I think but I'm gonna go over to Mrs Everdeen's house tomorrow to see if she can come and check on him, or even Primrose because I just need to know he's okay." She says, handing me the piece of paper that her mother writes everything that they need on.

"Primrose? Don't you think she's a little young to be making those kind of judgements?" I ask her.

"She might only be 12 but she had a lot of knowledge about healing, she's almost as good as her mum but not quite." She laughs.

I hold up one finger and turn towards the door. "RYE!" I shout. "ORDER!" He walks through a minute late and takes the paper off me. He looks down the list and smiles.

"We already have all of this baked so I'll just be five minutes Ria." He says and disappears.

"THANKS RYE!" She shouts after him.

"So what about Katniss, is she good at healing?" I ask, curious.

"I suppose so, she's nowhere near as good as Evelyn and Primrose but she knows some stuff." Ria says laughing.

"How do you know that?" I ask. I'm kinda surprised that she knows more about katniss than me. I knew that katniss was a lot better at hunting than healing but I thought that she couldn't heal at all. I guess I was wrong.

"Well a week ago, she came by with her mother and Prim, whilst Evelyn and Prim where working on dad, they asked her to do things and get things for them and she knew what she was doing every time." She says.

"Oh right fair enough." I smile at her as Rye walks back through the door.

"I have everything on your order." Rye says walking back in. He slides the bag across the counter top and Ria takes it in her hand.

"Thanks Rye, thanks Peeta. Good luck at the reaping." She smiles. "And tell Haymitch I said good luck in the capitol."

"I will Ria, thanks and good luck to you and Ross. I know its his first reaping so I know scary that can be." I say with a sad smile.

"Thanks, it's scary for us and especially considering that he's male so I can't volunteer for him if he's called, I can volunteer to go in with him though." She says.

"No don't do that, trust me you won't be helping anyone if you do that." I walk around the counter and take hold of her arms. She looks up and me with tears coming out her eyes. "If Ross is picked, I will volunteer for him. I will go in."

"No Peeta, you can't do that. I won't let you do that." Ria says.

"No Peet, you can't just do something like that." Rye says from behind us.

"I'm not taking back what I said, I mean it." I say.

"And there's no way we can change your mind?" Ria asks.

"Nope."

"No way?" Rye asks.

"No. And besides he has like a 1 percent chance of going in, his names only in there once." I say.

"Yeh I guess you're right, its just that mum is always working, dad's Ill, Ross is all I've got." Ria says.

I hug her and she wraps her arms around my middle. "It's going to be okay. I promise." I say to her.

"Thanks Peeta anyway I better get these back so we can have our tea." She says and leaves.

"As if you just did that!" Rye says.

"What?" I ask, pretending that I didn't do anything.

"As if you just agreed to volunteer for her brother." He shouts. He's obviously annoyed with me.

"Well I'm not just going to sit here and watch a 12 year old go to almost certain death." I say, facing him.

"And I'm not just gonna sit here and watch you go to almost certain death." He says back.

"Rye, I don't want you volunteering for me if I'm picked." I say. "If that's what you're talking about."

"Fine, if you don't want me to then fine but I can't let you be stupid and volunteer for a boy you hardly know." Rye says.

"I might not know him but I know his sister very well, and I can't let her go through that."

"Forget it, I'm gonna go back to work because it's pointless arguing with you when I can't change your mind." He says and walks back into the back. Out of everyone in this whole district, Rye is definitely my best friend, he's more like a brother to me. But like every other best friends we have our arguments. Delly however is my second oldest friend, I was friends with her even before I started working at the bakery. I became friends with her on our second day of school before Rosie moved to the capitol. My oldest friend would be Gale Hawthorne. I knew him from when I was 1. His mum used to look after Me and Rosie whilst dad was in the capitol.

Rosie doesn't return until 5:05 whilst I'm closing up with Rye. I've just locked the door when I see her running across the square. The shoe shop is a few doors down, what was she doing across the square. She gets to the door and I unlock it again to let her in. "What where you doing across the square, you only went to get shoes?" I ask.

"Well after I got the shoes I realised that I had grown in the past year and I needed more district 12 clothes. So I went to the clothes shop. Gina was working and kept asking about you. Eventually I got some clothes, I also bought you some new jeans because you told me on the phone about a week ago that you needed some new ones. Then I went to the sweet shop and got some of our favourite sweets. Then I got dad a present because he's my dad, there's no other reason." She laughs. "After that I ended up at the butchers and bought us something for dinner."

"You did all that in 45 minutes?" I ask, rather surprised.

"Yeh, I'm surprised I didn't do it in less time, normally I'm really quick, I think it was Gina talking to me.." She laughs.

"Yeh she is rather annoying." I say laughing. "Just let me close up and then we can get going to the hob."

"Agreed." She says and takes a seat at the table, placing her bags down on it.

It takes me only 10 minutes to clean up. All I have to do is shut the blinds, lock the door. Again. Clean the counter top and the table whilst Rye puts away all the food left on the display cases at the window. I walk into the bathroom and splash water on my face and wash the flour off from my hands. I take of my apron and shove it in one of Rosie's bags. I need to wash it and I can do it tonight.

"Come on let's get to the hob." I say to Rosie and we walk into the back of the bakery, to use the back door because the front door is locked.

"Hey Rosie, I didn't realise you where here, when did you get into the district?" Chris says from the sofa. He's sitting there with John next to the fire. All the Mellarks know the real story of where Rosie lives and why, they're the only people I'm the district other than me or dad that do know, even really doesn't know. I don't think I trust Delly with the secret because everything that she gets told she feels the need to tell everyone she knows. The only secret I have told her that she hasn't told everyone about is the Katniss secret. She's told a lot of people though but no one from the seam which I'm thankful for.

"Just this morning, we where having some trouble at home and now I live with peet and dad permanently." Rosie says.

"Well it's good to have you back." John says.

"Thanks John, that means a lot." Rosie says. "How's Aymee doing?"

"She's getting better I suppose but she wanted a daughter for all the time I knew her and when she got one, it was snatched away but I suppose she's coping with it, we are all coping." John says and I feel a tear fall from my eye. Poppy isn't mentioned much in this house anymore. There will come a time when we will talk about her and smile instead of cry but at the moment I can't seem to smile whenever someone mentions her because everything about her reminds me that she's not here anymore and it breaks my heart every time. "Are you okay Peeta?" Rosie asks.

"Yeh I'm fine." I say quickly wiping the tear away. "Come on we need to get going and make dinner." I say.

"Peet. If there's something wrong then I can cook dinner, I don't mind." Rosie says. "It's because Poppy was mentioned want it?"

"No I'm fine, let's just get to the hob." I reply. "Then we can get home. It's been a long day and I just want to get home." I walk towards the back door with more tears falling. I twist the handle and pull the door open. Just as the door opens, I reach up to wipe my eyes and carry on walking. My foot catches on something and I fall forward. I hear someone groan beneath me and I roll sideways. I look to my left to see Katniss lying on the floor. I stumble to my feet rather quickly and my head spins. I take a moment to recover myself and reach over to help Katniss up. "I am so sorry!" I say. "I didn't mean to bump into you, I didn't know you were there."

She puts her hand up to stop me mumbling. "It's fine." She croaks out. She stands on her feet and sways a little. "Come inside..." She doesn't resist, she just lets me lead her to the sofa, next to Chris and across from John and Rye who just came in. I help her sit down and walk to the kitchen to get some ice. I wrap it up in a towel and place it on her head. "How do you feel?" I ask.

"Well I just had someone who is almost twice my size, land on top of me, how would you feel?" She asks.

"Not good then." I say. She smiles sarcastically. "Well do you want me to get you anything?" I ask.

"No thanks, are you okay? I'm not the only one who's fallen over twice today." She says laughing.

"Hey! That was your fault, you pulled me out of a window." I say, laughing.

"Only because you caused me to fall over in the janitors office." She replies. She has to stop laughing from how much her head hurts.

"That was not my fault! You slipped." I say, this time it's my turn to stop laughing, I must have hit my head on something when I fell.

"We must have head butted eachother when we fell." Katniss says reading my mind.

"Yeh I guess so." I agree, it would totally make sense considering when I rolled off her my head was right next to hers so I'm guessing that my headache is caused by Katniss' head. "How's your back from earlier?" I ask.

"It's fine." She says. "Until I landed on it just now but it's fine, I'll talk to my mother about it."

"Sorry." I say.

"It's fine, anyway I only came over to trade, I need to get back to my family and I believe you where going somewhere." She says.

"Yeh I was going to the hob, my dad wants more white liquor." I say.

"Well, I guess I'll be leaving then." She says and gets up, placing the ice back on the table. "Goodbye, thanks for the ice" She says to me before leaving.

"No problem." I say. She's at the door now.

"I'll go and get you some bread." Rye says and runs off into the kitchen. He returns a minute later with a bag. He hands it to Katniss and in return gets 4 squirrels.

"Peeta I already went to your house but nobody answered so I still have your game do you want it now?" She asks.

"No it's fine you keep it for your family, we got some food from the butchers today." I say with a smile. "And my dad never answers the door so that why nobody answered."

"Okay thanks." She smiles. "Bye." Then she's out the door and gone in a couple of seconds.

I watch her leave and then turn around to everyone else. "You tripped her over... you fell out a window?" Chris says, smiling even wider.

"I'm gonna explain this one more Time." I say and go into the whole story of what happened in detention. "Then we left school and came here..." I finish. Rye bursts out laughing again.

"So she pulled you out a window because you knocked her over in the janitors office?" John asks and I nod.

"Why are you laughing? You've heard it before." I ask Rye.

"Well... I believe you promised to talk to Katniss not knock her over every chance you get." Rye says, laughing again.

"Hey! I did talk to Katniss!" I say defensively. His laughing is beginning to hurt my head.

"I think... when Poppy said 'talk to Katniss' She meant, 'tell her how you feel' not just talk to her." Rye replies.

"RYE!" I shout, his laughing really starting to annoy me. Everyone looks at me in shock but Rye still carries on laughing. "Please stop laughing! It's hurting my head!" I shout at him. "You don't see anyone else laughing, just you." He turns around the look at everyone else, then stops laughing after he sees everyone else watching him. I turn to Rosie. "Can we please just go home?" I ask and she looks at me.

"Why?" She asks. "Can't we stay here and talk for a while."

"No Rosie please." I beg, I probably look really stupid right now but I really want to go home. "My head is banging and I'm aching everywhere, my back, my legs, my arms, even my feet. We still have to go to the hob and get dad's white liquor." My voice is beginning to get louder and louder as I speak. "Then I need to cook dinner for dad or he'll starve, he never cooks for himself, it's been a really long day and I'm really tired. Can we please just go home?" I shout. "I. Know it's your first day here in almost a year and I'm sorry for shouting at you but I really just want to go home... please Rosie... please?" I ask. I'm beginning to feel faint from all the shouting and the headache.

"Okay Peeta, I'm sorry." She says standing up. "Peet are you okay?" She asks looking concerned. I nod and close my eyes, taking a few breaths. When I open my eyes, Rosie is standing right in front of me still with a concerned look. I smile and she hugs me. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and take a couple more breaths. "Come on then, let's get home." She says. We say goodbye to the Mellarks and leave the bakery

We walk through the cold streets of town. Most of the shops have closed down as of 5 o clock so it's mostly empty, but there's a few shops open when you walk deeper into town towards the seam. There's also still a few customers around. They are all probably walking home. One person I didn't expect to see though is dad. He's walking out of the seam into town when we make it there. "What are you doing here?" I ask. For once he doesn't have a bottle of liquor but has both his hands in his pockets.

"I was out for a walk, what where you doing?" He asks us.

"We where going to the hob for your liquor that I forgot yesterday." I say, he smiles at me.

"You don't have to bother with that anymore." He says.

"Why..." I ask slowly, I'm very confused at the moment, what has gotten into him,he seems sober.

"Well I did a lot of thinking today whilst I was walking and I decided that I'm gonna give up drinking. When there was just you Peeta, I thought that you where responsible enough to take care of yourself so I never really tried to give up drinking, I know you wanted me to but I thought that if I let you take care of yourself then it would make you a better person and nothing like your father. I don't want either of you to turn out anything like me. Anyway now that I have both my children again, I'm gonna try to make an effort a d as of today, I'm gonna try and stop drinking and first when we get home, I need you two to do me a huge favour." We both look at him with our mouths hanging open. "I need you too help me clean up the place and get rid of the liquor, but you're going to have to do that." I reluctantly nodded and he smiles. "What did you buy?" He asks, looking at Rosie's bags.

"Just some stuff from town, I'll show you when we get home." Rosie says with a smile.

"So let's get home then..." Dad says.

"I kinda needed to go to the hob though." I say, we are running low on a few things at home and I can't buy them from town now that it's all shut down for the day.

"What for?" Dad asks and Rosie looks at me.

"Just some stuff that we need at home and I also need to see someone about my headache." I say to them. My head has been hurting since we left the bakery, every noise causes it hurt more.

"I know just the person." Dad says clicking his finger and walks off, me and Rosie run after him.

"Who?" I ask, when we catch up to him.

"You'll see." He says and carries on walking. He's walking deeper into the seam and I think I know where he's heading.

In 15 minutes, we are standing outside the Everdeen's house. "Dad. I Can't be here." I say to him.

"Why not?" His face holds confusion as he looks at me.

"Because I just Can't, I don't want to explain the whole thing again." I say, holding my head. It really is pounding now, I can feel it behind my eyes and in my temple.

"Really?" He asks with his eyes wider and a smile on his face. I nod and he Knocks.

"What are you doing?" I hiss at him.

"Getting something for your headache obviously." He says sarcastically, I'm about to shout at him again until the door opens.

"Haymitch Abernathy, I haven't seen you for 10 years, what are you doing here?" I hear Mrs Everdeen ask.

"Well my son here." He points to me and I turn around. "Needs something for a headache and I was wondering if there was anything you could do for him?"

"I thought I would see you here Peeta, Katniss told me what happened." She lets out a small laugh before speaking again. "Anyway, I do have something, I gave some to Katniss about 10 minutes ago but it takes a good half an hour to make more. She didn't finish hers so if you don't mind I'll just give you the remainder of hers and if it's still hurting tomorrow morning before school just come by and I'll make more for you." She smiles and I nod. She turns around to face the house and shouts,"KATNISS!"

"WHAT!" I hear in a some what annoyed reply.

"COME HERE AND BRING YOUR HEADACHE RELIEF!" Mrs Everdeen shouts back.

Katniss walks around the door frame a few seconds later with a glass in her hand, it has a horrible greeny coloured liquid in it and I scrunch my face up at the sight of it. Prim is standing behind Katniss, with a sad look on her face. "Sorry about Prim, she's very scared at the moment, you know with her first reaping coming on Monday." Mrs Everdeen says. I nod.

"I understand how it can feel." I say and wave to Prim.

"Hi Peeta, how are you today?" She asks.

"I'm good, how are you?" I ask.

"Fine I guess..." She replies.

"I thought you would show up." Katniss says. "My head hurt like crazy so I guessed yours did."

"It still does. Everything that is said around me makes my head hurt." I say.

"Sorry, I'll speak quieter." Katniss says. She understands the pain of this headache so I'm guessing she understands how the sound of peoples voices affects the pain. I nod in agreement and Mrs Everdeen looks at Katniss.

"Katniss could you please give him the rest of your headache relief." She says and Katniss nods. She hands over the glass in her hand and they all look at me whilst I look at the disgusting green stuff. "Better to get it over with quickly because I assure you, it doesn't taste very nice."

"It doesn't look very nice either." I say laughing.

"It tastes as good as it looks I'm afraid. But it helps a lot." Mrs Everdeen says. I close my eyes and gulp back the disgusting drink. It burns my mouth straight away and burns my throat even more. It tastes a lot worse that any of dad's drinks. It kinda tastes like nail varnish. I only know what nail varnish tastes like because Rosie thought it would be brilliant to put nail varnish on my nails whilst I was sleeping when we where 6 and at the time I slept with my thumb in my mouth and I put my thumb in my mouth just after she put the nail varnish on my nail and I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth all day. But this tastes like drinking a full bottle of nail varnish all at once.

It's burning my throat that much that I can't swallow it. Rosie notices and clamps a hand over my mouth. "Swallow it Peeta!" She says in my ear. I choke on the liquid until I'm able to swallow it and when I can, It all goes down and I'm pretty sure that it's going to make a reappearance some time in the next 24 hours. Prim smiles and hands me a glass of water that I didn't notice she was holding. "Drink this, it should help." She says and I drink the whole glass. It doesn't help at all. The taste is still in my mouth and for some reason it's worse than it was before. Prim offers to get me some more but I decline the offer. Within a minute, the weird liquid has made me cough. Not just normal everyday cough but the cough you would expect from an asthmatic 50 year old. "Prim go and get the purple bottle in the cabinet please." Mrs Everdeen says and runs off. I feel a hand on my back, rubbing up and down. It turns to slapping and my coughing subsides. I look to my left to see Katniss standing there with her signature awkward look. Her mum stands on the other side of me, now with the purple bottle in her hands. It contains a clear liquid that looks like water. "It's fine Peeta, this happened to Katniss... it happens to some people... Katniss was only the third person that it has happened too, that I've encountered, you being the fourth."

I attempt a smile and she pours the clear liquid into my mouth which tastes of strawberries. The taste of nail varnish has gone from my mouth and the coughing stops completely. "Wow! That works really fast." I say with a smile. Katniss nods and then her eyes flicker to my nose and she smiles more.

I give her a questioning look. "Sorry for staring but you have sunburn on your nose and it looks funny." She says and laughs. I smile at her again. Every time she laughs I probably look like some kind or creep, smiling at her. When Katniss has finished laughing, I look around at everyone. I Catch my reflection in the window next to their door and see that she's right. It does look funny, I let out a little laugh . It stops in a line under my eye, as if I'd been wearing sunglasses. The tip of my nose is almost the same colour as a strawberry and the skin stretching out from my nose gets lighter until it finally stops in a very crooked line about an inch from my ear. "Rosie why didn't you tell me?" I ask.

"I didn't notice it, I'm pretty sure it wasn't there whilst we where at the bakery." Rosie replies.

"No it wasn't...I remember." Katniss says. We all look at her and she goes back to looking awkward, but not before flashing me a smile. I smile back and Mrs Everdeen speaks.

"Well we better get going, me and Katniss where just about to start making our tea." She says and beckons Katniss and Prim back into the house. I smile and wave at Prim. "Goodbye." Mrs Everdeen says.

"Yeah we need to get to the hob." I say, Katniss looks at us weird, I know that she doesn't expect victors children to go into the hob but she decides to not say anything and a smile appears on her face. "Thanks Mrs Everdeen." I say.

"Please call me Evelyn." She replies with a smile.

"Okay... Evelyn." I let out a little laugh. "Prim good luck at the reaping on Monday, Katniss I guess I'll be seeing tomorrow at school but goodbye any way." I say and Evelyn smiles at me before shutting the door.

Me, Rosie and Dad set off for the hob. Rosie doesn't shut up until we get there. She's talking about the 'looks' that Katniss was giving me. Rosie seems to think that Katniss loves me back. Katniss hardly even knows me. It would be amazing if she loved me back but that's probably never going to happen.

When we walk through the doors to the hob, a few people look at us. I'm used to it by now but Rosie becomes really uncomfortable and starts fidgeting. I look at her and smile. "No-one is going to hurt you." I say to her. "It's just like town but a lot cheaper." She smiles again and grabs hold of my arm. I walk forward and she seems to latch onto my side. I laugh but carry on walking.

I buy a lot of cleaning stuff from a man located near the back of the hob. If we are going to clean the house then we should do it properly. I buy some salt from Greasy Sae because I used the last of it on last night's dinner. Whilst I'm at Sae's stall, someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to see Gale Hawthorne standing behind me. "Hi." He says. "Buying your dad's liquor?" Gale and I where friends when we where younger, from when I was a couple months older, up until when he met Katniss, then we floated apart and now it's just conversations here and there.

"No, he's trying to give it up. I'm here with Rosie and Dad buying stuff for the house." I say. Every time I'm in here, he's in here, it's like he spends all his time here. I wouldn't call us friends, more like acquaintances. He never talks to me when he's with Katniss though, only when he's by himself which I'm kinda thankful about because obviously I make a fool out of myself when I see Katniss.

"Where are they?" He asks looking around.

I follow his gaze around, realising for the first time that they aren't here. "I don't actually know... they where here a second ago." I say laughing. I turn back to Gale and he's looking at me. "So how have you been?" I ask.

"As good as you can be when you have to kill your food I suppose." He says. I nod.

"Yeh I guess so." I say with a small smile. "Good luck on the reaping next week." I say, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yeh you too." He says, placing his bag on Sae's counter top. He takes out all the food before handing Sae 2 squirrels and placing the rest back into the bag. She hands him a bowl of soup and he starts eating it. "So how's your mother?" I ask. "I haven't seen her in a while, I've been meaning to come round but I've been working at the bakery when I've not been at school."

"She's doing alright. Just got her hand full with Posy and Vick." He says. I nod.

"So how many times is your name in this time?" I ask him.

"42." He replies.

"Oh I'm sorry..." I say.

"No it's fine, I'm not worried about myself... it's Rory's first reaping this year... Prim's as well." He says. "I'm worried about them."

"Yeh. Tell Rory I said good luck for Monday." I say, he nods. "I've got to go and find my family so I'll talk to you some other time." I smile and walk away.

Then I buy 3 bars of soap, one for each bathroom. I also buy Rosie some shoelaces. The ones you normally get at the shoe shop are really thin and break within a week so I buy her some really thick black ones that coal minors usually buy. I also buy some vegetables to go with the meat that Rosie bought for dinner.

I find Rosie and Dad, right at the back of the building, next to a book stall and a bed stall, where they sell duvets and pillows and things like that but they don't actually sell beds. They do in town though. "What you doing?" I ask them.

"Well dad promised me that he will buy me a double bed tomorrow so we are buying the covers and pillows for it, we also got you and dad some too. They are all the same though." She smiles. "Then dad bought me about 11 books, because I plan on finally filling my book cases. I bought you some new paints and we bought us all some new clothes. Oh and some bin bags for the house and all the rubbish in it."

"Are we having a home make over or something?" I ask and she laughs.

"That's the idea." She says.

By the time we are done in the hob, we all have about 4 bags each, plus the stuff that Rosie bought in town. We rent one of the carts outside the doors and put all of our shopping into it. I wheel it all the way back to the Victors Village and when we get back to our house, it's 8 pm and the sun is going down.

When we get home, I can't fit the cart through the door because it's too big do I have to leave it in the front yard and carry the bags in. Dad unlocks the door and together, me, him and Rosie get all the bags in the house and on the kitchen table. "Right, put the food in the fridge, then we will tidy up, just leave the rest of it where it is and we will sort out when we are done." Dad says and new and Rosie pick up the bags with food in. I put the meat and the vegetables in the fridge and the salt and the sweets in the cupboard. When I turn back around dad is standing there with the time of him bags in his hand. "Let's get going then." He smiles.

I take the radio out of one of the cupboards and turn it on so it's blasting out music, I turn it up a lot and we all get started on the house. It takes us 2 hours to clean the downstairs and only half an hour to clean dad's room. Mine and Rosie's rooms are already clean. By the time we are finished fully it's almost 11 pm. "Right now I'm starving... Peet do you think you could whip us up something to eat?" Dad asks.

"Don't you think it's a bit late for food?" I ask.

"No of course not." He says sitting down at the kitchen table where all the bags are.

"Ok fine." I say and walk to the fridge and take out everything for the food. I place it on the counter and begin to cook, dancing along to the music still coming from the radio. I finish the food in 20 minutes and we eat. It's nice to be eating as a family again. We keep a conversation going the whole time we spend eating and even after we have finished we just door there talking until dad says, "we need to get this shopping sorted out before we all go to bed." I stand up and take the plates and put them back on the counter before walking back over to the table. I grab two bags and start sorting through, putting it in piles of who's is what. I put all the cleaning supplies in the kitchen cupboards and take the bars of soap to the bathrooms. When I get back everything is sorted out into piles and the bags are gone. My pile is the smallest one of all and it contains, 3 pairs of jeans, an orange button down shirt with long sleeves, a black top, a green top, a white top, a dark green fluffy jumper, some paints, paint brushes, a duvet, a duvet cover, 2 pillows, 2 pillow covers and a bed sheet.

Rosie's pile contains- a pair of shoes, some shoelaces, 6 pairs of jeans, a blue top, a pink top, a yellow top, a black top, a white shirt, a purple shirt, a grey leather jacket that's very similar to mine that I've had for almost a year, 11 different books, a double duvet, a duvet cover, 2 pillows, 2 pillow covers and a bed sheet.

Dad's pile contains- a pair of shoes that Rosie must have bought at the shoe shop, 5 pairs of jeans, 4 black tops, a jacket,a blue jumper, a white jumper, a duvet, a duvet cover, 2 pillows, 2 pillow covers, a bed sheet ad his present off Rosie that actually turned out to be a book.

After we have sorted it out, we all take them upstairs. I have to help Rosie take her books upstairs because she can't take it all but eventually I'm able to go to bed. I turn around to the clock to see that it's 2:12 am. It's a digital clock so it tells me the time exactly. I close my eyes and fall asleep.

The next time I wake up, my head is pounding and my clock says it's 4:46am. I've only been asleep for 2 and a half hours. I can't get back to sleep with this headache though so I climb out of bed. As I pull myself to my feet,I realise that my legs and back are hurting. Must have been when I fell out the window yesterday, I must have fallen on my hips, causing my back and legs to hurt. I walk to my drawers and I pull on some clean underwear, then a pair of my new jeans. Then I pull on my orange button down shirt. Then I realise that it's too push for school so I swap it for my new black short sleeved t-shirt. That looks better. I pull my green fluffy jumper on over it and I'm extremely surprised at how good it feels. I hang my head out my open window and feel that's really cold today. I pull on some thick socks and then my boots, which look really scruffy against all the new clothes but no-one is going to care. I knot my shoelaces twice and tuck them into my shoes. Standing in front of the mirror, I attempt to flatten down my blonde curls. A minute later I realise that it's not going to work and I walk to the bathroom for a shower. I only just decided to have a shower after I finished getting dressed. If I had thought of it before then I probably wouldn't have got changed.

After my shower, I get dressed again and brush my teeth. By 5:39 am I'm all ready and only haven't breakfast left to eat. I don't have to be in school until 9, what am I supposed to do until then.

I walk downstairs and straight into the kitchen, switching on the lamp in the corner. It's just becoming light outside so I'm not going to need more than a lamp to light up the room. I switch the TV on and I'm not surprised when Caesar Flickerman comes on with the morning announcements. I turn to the cupboard and get out everything to make pancakes. I leave it all on the side and watch the screen. He starts talking about the games again as he usually does in the week leading up to the games.

At half 6 I decide to stop watching the TV and make breakfast. Within 20 minutes I have 6 pancakes made. I take out two trays an put 3 pancakes on each of 2 plates then place them on the trays and put a glass of orange juice on each one before taking them upstairs. I place one of them on the top of the stairs and then walk to Rosie's room with the other one. I knock lightly, "Rosie?" I say. No answer. I open the door and Rosie is in her bed asleep with a book in her hands. I place the tray down on her bedside table and take the book out of her hand. I shake her shoulder lightly and her eyes open. "I brought you breakfast." I say. She smiles at me but closes her eyes again. "Rosie, wake up, you need to eat this and you need to get up, we have school in an hour and a half." I say and pulls herself to a sitting position.

"Thank you for the food." She says.

"No problem." I smile and leave the room

I go to dad's room and wake straight in. He's lying in bed asleep, snoring really loudly. "DAD!" I shout, he's always been a very heavy sleeper. He doesn't react to my voice. I place the tray down his bed side table and take a handful of his duvet, pulling it off quickly, he still doesn't react. I walk over to him. "DAD!" I shout into his ear. His eyes shoot open and he looks at me.

"What are you doing?" He shouts.

"I brought you breakfast." I say to him. I walk over to the window and open it fully, letting in the cold air outside. "Now eat it!" I order.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the parent here!" He replies.

"I don't care, eat it!" I say and leave the room.

I walk down the stairs and back into the kitchen. I left the TV on and I still need to make my breakfast. When I step through the kitchen door, I hear the phone ring. I groan and turn around to answer it. I take the phone off the receiver and place it to my ear. "Hello? Abernathy residence?" I say through the phone. At first I can just hear crying. "Hello?" More crying. "Who is this?" The crying stops and it goes silent.

"Peeta?" I hear someone say.

"Yes? Who am I talking too?" I ask.

"Sorry, it's mum." I hear her say. I didn't even recognise her voice.

"Mum? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" I ask.

"Is Rosie around? I need to talk to her right now! It's really important." She says and starts sobbing again.

"The she's upstairs... one minute." I say and place the phone onto the table by the phone. I turn around and run at full speed up the stairs, knocking past dad on the way up. I mumble a sorry and burst into Rosie's room.

"What's wrong?" She asks. She's now fully dressed other than her shoes and was just brushing through her hair when I can through the door.

"Mums on the phone, she was crying and she wants to speak to you. It sounded urgent." I say quickly. She puts down her hair brush and pushes past me, disappearing into the hallway and down the stairs. When I get to the bottom of the stairs I see her holding the phone to her ear and holding a hand over the other ear.

"...what's wrong?... No... yes...Monday...What?...really...yes I guess so...I'll tell them...bye... I love you..." She places the phone back on the receiver slowly and turns around to me. She has tears rolling down both her cheeks and is making horrible sobbing sounds. "I need to talk to you and dad about something." She says and walks away into the kitchen, where dad sits at the table with a cup of coffee. I follow her and sit down next to dad. "Mum just gave me some news." She says and dad sits up straighter. "Well considering that I live here now, I am permanently a citizen of district 12, which means that I have to be like a district 12 teenager and..." She trails off, I'm not quite sure I'm gonna like where this is going. "... My name is in the reaping bowls this year and every year until I'm 18..." She says and my mouth hangs open.

"Oh. No." Dad says. "It's going to be okay Rosie, I'll tell you the same thing I told Peeta 4 years ago. If either of you are picked then I will do anything I can to save you. I promise." He stands up and hugs Rosie for the first time in 10 years.

"Thanks dad." She smiles into his shoulder and I feel tears fall from eyes.

"I can't believe my little sister is in the reaping, I thought this day would never come." I say and they both look at me. Dad now has a few tears in his eyes and Rosie's still crying. I stand up and wrap my arms around Rosie.

"I'm only a few minutes younger than you..." She mumbles

"I don't care." I say into her hair. "You're still my little sister."

"I love you Peeta." She says, burying her face into my shoulder.

"I love you too Rosie." I reply, kissing her on the head.

A few minutes later, I finally make my breakfast and I eat silently whilst Rosie and Dad talk about the reaping. He explains to get everything that happens because normally she doesn't get to see the reaping because she starts in the house, incase anyone recognises her and asks why she's not in line with the others. She watches the recaps but they are only from when the excort starts speaking. Obviously that's normally mum. I don't remember a time when it wasn't. Even before I was taking part, I had to watch because my dad was on stage, then whilst he was in the capitol, we would go to Hazelle's and spend a week over there. At the time she only had 2 kids, Gale and Rory. So me and Gale used to play together when we where kids. My dad left her money every year to get us anything we needed and then pay her for looking after us.

Dad had told Hazelle and Cole that Effie was our mother when we where 6 because they asked about her and why she couldn't look after us so he told them why and obviously because Hazelle had to pick up Rosie from the train station so she should have known why. As it turns out, Gale was hiding behind a corner when he told them and he found out. I don't think he told anyone though, which I'm glad about. Rosie had the biggest crush on Gale when we where younger and tried to follow us wherever we went. I distinctively remember telling her to stop following us because she isn't a boy and can't play with us. When she moved to the capitol, Hazelle would pick me up from my house and then take me to the train station to pick Rosie up. I always got very excited.

When I was 7, Vick was born, which meant that she now had 5 kids to look after and whenever her husband, Cole, was home he would take me and Rosie to the park that was just outside the school yard. All it had was some horrible old swings and a ratty old climbing frame. On Sunday we would spend the whole day with Cole, he would bring us back to our house so that we could play with our toys, whilst he sat in the kitchen watching a capitol show on the small TV.

Whilst me and Rosie where at the Hawthornes, we would bring over the spare mattress that dad had bought for them. It spent a couple of weeks on the living room floor and me and Rosie would sleep on it.

When we were about 4-7 Gale would always want to sleep downstairs with us. His mother would normal lye say no but a few times she said yes. Hazelle had originally told us that boys sleep in one room, girls in the other but Rosie never wanted to be alone so Gale and Rory would sleep in one room and me and Rosie in the other.

When me and Rosie where 12, I started to work at the bakery and Rosie would come with Mr so we would only sleep at Hazelle's then leave early in the morning for the bakery. That year, after the reaping, Cole died in the mine and we where all devastated and then a couple months later, Posy was born and the house was now too fill for us to stay there, I remember telling Rosie about Cole's death and she didn't believe me until she came back to the district when I was 13 and he wasn't there.

That year, dad tried to get us to stay at the Everdeen's but I argued with him and told him that I couldn't, so eventually we ended up staying at the Mellark's. That year was Chris' last reaping but Poppy's first reaping so everyone had mixed emotions about it. At the time I had been working at the bakery for over a year so during the day I would help out in the bakery and Rosie would go to the park or something with poppy who only worked on the days I had off, which where Friday, Saturday and Monday. These days I have to work everyday after school and then all day Saturday.

The next year, when we where 14 we had to stay there again because dad still didn't trust us by ourselves. Last year when we where 15, he finally trusted us to stay in the house by ourselves but Chris was sent to check on us every night. It was rather annoying that he didn't trust us fully. I can see why though because last year was when I drank half of his liquor. He didn't find out about it though because I bought him more with the money that he left us. When he got home though he apologized for Poppy about 50 times until I finally told him to shut up.

At 8:04 am we leave for school. We arrive at 8:52 and the school yard is almost empty. Most kids take the week before the reaping off to spend with their families incase they are picked. Me and Rosie don't need to because if either of us are picked we will get to spend time with both of our parents anyway and then if we aren't we can spend time with dad when he gets back so we always come into school the week before the reaping. Last year there was only 4 other people in our class. But on the Friday before the reaping there was only me, Rosie and Katniss, she's always in the week before the reaping because from what I've heard she doesn't like her mother all too much but prim does though. This year though, Katniss and Gale, walk through the gates together with Vick, Prim and Rory trailing along behind them. Looks like Rory, Vick and Gale aren't staying home either. I give them a sad smile and Gale smiles back. Katniss gives him a confused look as he smiles at me. I'm guessing he never told about us being friends when we where younger. He starts talking to her and then she looks shocked, she looks back and forth between me and Gale and then starts walking towards me. "So I hear that you and Gale used to be friends." She asks.

"Yeh, since I was only a couple months old up until around the time he met you." I say.

"I'm surprised he didn't mention you before." She says to me.

"Yeh me too." I say and walk away. I'm really not up for conversation today, not even with Katniss.

When we get to class, there's only 3 people in other than me and Rosie: Delly, Katniss and River. Delly calls us over to sit with her but I smile and carry on towards the back of the class. I take a seat and rest my head on my arms. I let a silent year fall from my eyes, but quickly wipe it away when I catch Katniss looking at me. She turns away and carries on looking out the window. "Now class, today we are going to learn about district 4 victors." Our teacher says. "The most famous one, of course, is Finnick Odair. He's known mainly because his promise of prostitution in the capitol but secondly because he is the youngest person to ever win the games, at the age of 14." The teacher starts going on and on about district 4 and its Victors but I just tune her out and find myself staring at a wall. Eventually my head goes into my arms again.

I can't believe the person I care about the most has a chance of going into the games. I'd gotten used to the fact that all my friends might go to their death but I never thought my own twin sister might do. I can't volunteer for her if she gets picked and I know that she would never forgive me if I volunteered to go in with her. I also couldn't do that to mum and dad. They would be heartbroken to see both of their children go into the games in the same year and knowing that only one of them could come out. Mum and dad have probably realised that I would want to save Rosie if that ever happened. I just can't imagine my little sister dying in that arena. I would never let that happened, she's too much of a good human being to die in that stupid arena. "Peeta Abernathy. Are you paying attention?" I hear the teacher say. I pull my head up from my arms and look at her. She holding a piece of chalk in her hand and has the other hand on her hip. The look on her face turns from anger to sympathetic. I'm confused at to why until I feel a tear drop on my hand and realise that I'm crying. "If you need a moment you can leave my classroom. Just take a moment outside and come back inside when you're ready." She smiles. I nod and pull myself to my feet, pushing my chair back under the table and walk for the door. I feel Rosie grab my hand and give it a squeeze as I'm on my way out, I squeeze back and leave the room. I lean against the opposite wall and run my fingers through my hair. I look up at the sound of footsteps. I turn left and look down the hallway and see Gale. I quickly wipe away the left over tears from my face as he gets closer. "Why you out of class?" He shouts to me.

"I was sent out." I reply.

"Peeta Abernathy? Sent out of class? What did you do?" He asks, laughing.

"You gonna think it's really girly but I was actually sent out because I was crying." I say. His face turns serious as he finally makes it to me.

"Well it must be really serious If Peeta Abernathy cried in front of people... What happened?" He asks.

"Well this morning, mum called from the capitol and told us that Rosie is entered in the reaping. I can't talk to anyone about it because no-one knows about mum and I just need someone to talk to other than dad or Rosie. I just can't stand the fact that the person I care about the most in the whole world is going through the reaping, I know how bad it is as and I never wanted her to have to go through it and I know that I can't volunteer to go in with her because I just can't put my parents through that. She's already broken the law so I don't see why president snow won't put her in the hunger games or make sure that her name is on all of the slips of paper. It just... I... I just don't know what to do." I say very quickly. I slide my back down the wall and sit on the floor with my elbows on my knees and my hands in my hair.

"Wow! Peeta calm down!" I hear Gale say and he sits down next to me. "I'm sure Rosie name won't be in there more than a normal 16 year olds and I'm sure that president snow won't do anything to jeopardise that. Rosie will be fine, I'm sure she will." He says.

I look forward him. "How do you know?" I ask.

"Well I don't, we just have to have faith about these things and hope that nothing happens." He smiles and stands up to leave. "I'll see you later Peeta." He says and leaves. I didn't even ask him why he was out of lesson.

I stay on the floor, looking up to the ceiling with my arms leaning on my knees. Maybe he's right, maybe the only thing I need to do is hope that it will all turn out right. Maybe that's all I need. Hope.

Third lesson we have Mrs Myers again and I have to sit next to Katniss. She smiles at me as I sit down and I smile back. The lesson goes by slowly. Mrs Myers seems nicer today than normal. I think it's probably got something to do with the reaping next week. I turn back towards Katniss to see her scrolling something on a piece of paper. She slides the paper over to me. 'What was wrong with you earlier?' It says in her scruffy handwriting.

I pick up my pen off the table. 'Nothing, just family problems, that's all.' I reply.

'Oh okay then, well I was wondering... considering that you and Gale used to be bestfriends and now me and Gale are.. maybe, we could be friends? What do you think?' When she slides it over to me, I smile.

'I think that's a great idea.' She writes.

Suddenly I'm brought back to what Gale said earlier about having hope. I've always had hope that me and katniss could be friends and now we are so maybe if I have hope then nothing will happen at the reaping...

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**I hope you liked this chapter and the whole Peeta/Gale back story. I had fun writing it... Please review on it :) **

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	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Last time: Suddenly I'm brought back to what Gale said earlier about having hope. I've always had hope that me and katniss could be friends and now we are so maybe if I have hope then nothing will happen at the reaping..._

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The next day, I wake up to the sound of the downstairs phone ringing. I look to the digital clock on my bed side table. 4:02. What is someone ringing us at this time in the morning for. It must be important. I slide out of bed and pull on some jeans, leaving the room without a shirt on.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and pick up the phone. "Hello?" I ask into the phone. At first all I can hear is crying and I'm worried that it's mum again with some terrible news but the sobs get deeper and deeper until it finally becomes obvious that it's a male voice. "Hello?" I ask again.

"Peet?" The voice chokes out.

"Yeh?" I ask.

"I need you to do something for me." I hear and automatically place the voice to Rye.

"What's wrong?" I ask, suddenly pretty worried. Rye never rings me this early and he never cries unless it's really serious.

"I... Erm... I ... I need you to... go over to the Everdeen's house for me. I know it's early but this is really important, something's happened with mum... we... we couldn't get her to wake up this morning... please ... please help me." He says and I feel a tear leave my eye.

"I'll set off straight away. Just hang in there!" I say.

"Thank you Peet, you don't know how much this means to me." He says and hangs up.

I run upstairs and pull on a shirt and my boots before going back downstairs. I put on my leather jacket and walk to the kitchen. I pick up a piece of paper from the kitchen side and a pen from a drawer.

'I've had to leave to get to the Everdeen's. Something happened at the bakery and its really important. Rosie I'll see you at school... Peeta.'

I leave the note on the kitchen table and walk towards the front door. I pick up my key from the circular table under the window and open the door. I slide my key in the hole and lock the door.

It's dark outside, the sun hasn't yet come up. The wind hits my face hard and the tears that where rolling down my face, go off course and onto my shoulders. There's not a sound to be heard. The district is sleeping. The victors village is empty but there's nothing new there considering we are the only people that actually live here.

When I walk down the dirt roads from the Victors Village to the seam, it gets colder and I zip up my jacket. In the seam it is almost as empty as the Victors Village other than a few coal minors going to work.

The dirt roads get smaller and dirtier as I walk further into the seam. It takes a while but I eventually make it to the Everdeen's house. I pull my right hand out of my jacket pocket and bang on the door. No answer. I bang again. "EVELYN!" I shout. Bang. Shout. Bang. Shout- the door opens.

"What do you think you are doing?" Katniss hisses. She's wrapped in a blanket from her bed. I can just make out the shorts and tank top that are her pyjamas. Her bare feet are poking out the bottom of the long brown blanket and her hair is flowing down her shoulders. It's rather knotty and messed up. "Peeta? What's wrong?" She asks. Her face is softer now. No doubt seeing the tears on my face.

"Is your mum awake?" I ask.

"No, it's half 4 in the morning, she's asleep." Katniss says.

"Yeh I thought she would be! We need her at the bakery. Aymee didn't wake up this morning and Rye rang me up this morning... he was... he" I can't seem to go on because of the tears and the horrible sobbing sounds coming out of my mouth.

"Do you want to come in?" She asks me.

"No I can't, this is urgent. Could you please just wake your mother up?" I ask.

"Of course, just come in and wait, it's really cold this morning." She says and steps out the way for me to walk in. I step over the threshold and turn around to Katniss. "So what happened?"

"Rye rang me about half an hour ago and told me that Aymee didn't wake up this morning and I needed to get Evelyn." I feel more tears fall from my eyes and she looks at me awkwardly.

"I'll go and get my mother." She says and runs off upstairs. I'm not really sure at what to do in someone else's house so I just stand there awkwardly with my hands in my pockets. I can hear mumbling upstairs followed by footsteps and then the talking gets louder. I can hear the floorboards up above my head creak as people walk around and it seems like every move you make in this house makes a noise. If someone jumped in this house they would probably fall through the floor.

"Peeta?" I hear Katniss shout from the top of the stairs.

"Yeah?" I reply.

"Will you come up here please?" My eyes grow wide. Why would I have to go up there. Why Can't they come down here.

"Yeh sure." I shout back and walk to the stairs. Katniss stands at the top with a small smile on her face. She waves me up and I walk up the stairs. When I get to the top she walks me to one of two doors. She opens it and I follow her in.

"Hi Peeta." I hear someone say. I turn around and see two double beds, not far away from eachother. Prim is sleeping in one of them and Evelyn is sitting in the other one with a smile on her face. "I'm guessing you're wondering why Katniss called you up here?" Evelyn says. I look to Katniss who is now curled up on the only chair in the room with her blanket around her, she smiles and I turn back around and nod at Evelyn. "Well, I woke up this morning with a cold and its a cold morning so I'm just staying in bed for a while." She says.

"Oh... Erm... Well I guess this is a bad time to mention that you are needed at the bakery then?" I say.

"It's never a bad time, I can just dress warmly. What's happened?" She asks.

"Well Rye rang me up this morning about half an hour ago and he was crying so I asked him what was wrong and he told me that Mrs Mellark didn't wake up this morning." I feel a couple more tears fall from my eyes and she looks at me shocked.

"I'll be ready soon, just give me 10 minutes. Feel free to get something from the kitchen, there isn't much in there but you can have something. I'll wake Prim up and we will set off for the bakery." She says and slides her legs sideways out of bed.  
"Thank you so much." I say and leave the room.

Katniss is the first one that is ready, she comes down the stairs five minutes after I do, fully dressed as if she's going hunting. "Mum and Prim are almost ready." She says to me and takes a seat next to me on the sofa. It's only a 2 seater sofa and a couple bits of fabric are missing from it but it's surprisingly comfortable. "How are you feeling?" She asked me.

"A little shook up I guess. I just don't think I expected anything to happen the week before the reaping and now it has." I say. She places her hand on my leg to comfort me.

"Well something always happens in district 12." She laughs. "It's going to be okay." I look down to where her hand rests on my leg and feel heat rise up in my body.

"You are good at making someone feel better." I say, looking to me right into her face.

"Yeh, that's my job when my mother is working on someone. I get to comfort the wife or husband or child. Well... when I'm not running off into the woods anyway." She laughs. I'm very aware of the fact that her right hand is still on my right leg. This time though she seems to be stroking my leg. She looks down and pulls her hand away. "Lets dry them tears." She says and hands me a piece of cloth from the table. I wipe my eyes and keep the cloth in my hands. "You know, the people we love are always dragged away from us In the end and there's nothing we can do about it, death always overshadows family. It could come at any time and leaves more casualties that it might think." She says, looking at her hands in her lap. I reach over and stroke a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She looks up to me with a tear in her eye.

"They might be dragged away from us but at least we got some time with them, that's all that matters." I smile and she smiles back. She shuffles closer to me and rests her head on my shoulder.

"I know, I just wish we had longer to spend with them." She says and I hear her sniff.

"Yeh... me too." I can't stop thinking of Poppy. Mrs Mellark is most likely dead and I have the girl I've loved for 11 years in my arms and all I can think about is Poppy. I find myself staring at the opposite wall and thinking about every moment I spent with Poppy. All leading up to our goodbye. The thought brings tears to my eyes again.

"Do you think we will ever see them again?" She asks.

"Oh definitely, I believe that they are waiting for us somewhere." I say. "Somewhere nice." I smile at the thought of everyone we love sitting around waiting for us to join them when we are ready.

"Come on guys let's get going." Mrs Everdeen says from the door. Katniss picks her head up off my shoulder and stands up. We follow Mrs Everdeen to the door and out into the cold street beyond.

The walk to the bakery takes half an hour and we get there around5:20. The street outside is quiet and the blinds are down in the window. The doors locked and the lights are off. We walk around the back and to the back door where Katniss trades with John. I knock once but no-one answers, I turn around to the Everdeen's. "Wait here a minute." I say and walk inside, I leave the door open so they can stand in the doorway. The place seems empty. It's dark and cold which is unusual for the bakery. I walk over to the radiator and turn the nob on the top. It will take a while to warm up so I leave it to heat up.

I switch on the light and walk to the stairs. "RYE?" I shout up the stairs. I hear a door open and Rye appears a couple seconds later. He has tears in his eyes and he's wearing some jeans and a shirt. He walks slowly down the stairs and collapses on me crying on my shoulder. I start patting him on the back and he does his best to wrap his arms around me. I walk him over to the sofa and sit him down. "Where's your mum?" I ask.

"In her and dads room." He replies and carries on crying.

I turn towards the Everdeen's who stands at the door watching me. "Katniss could you wait down here please. Mrs Everdeen, I'll show you where they are." She walks over to me with Prim standing behind her and I show them up the stairs and into the double room that belongs to Mr and Mrs Mellark.

When we walk in nobody looks up to us. I can hear the horrible sound of sobbing. Chris is sitting in a chair in the corner, with his head in his hands. John is knelt on the bed with Aymee's head in his lap. Evelyn runs straight over and sits on the edge of the bed, Prim follows her and stands behind her. "Chris, Peeta and John? I'm gonna need you all to go downstairs." Evelyn says and I turn around and walk back down the stairs. I realise that I have tears falling from my eyes but they don't stop.

When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I hear Chris and John walk out of the bedroom but they don't come down the stairs. I lean my back against the wall and take deep breaths. All I can hear is Katniss talking to Rye. "Peeta told me earlier that, the people we love are all waiting for us somewhere nice and we will join them when we are ready." She says and I smile. I walk to the kitchen and grab 3 glasses from the cupboard, filling them with water. I walk back into the other room and hand 1 to Katniss and 1 to Rye. I take a seat across from them and focus on my glass of water.

John and Chris come down the stairs 10 minutes later followed by Evelyn and Prim. Prim has tears streaming down her face and as soon as she gets to us, she falls onto Katniss and hugs her. John and Chris sit down on the sofa next to me and Evelyn stands before us all, messing with the rings on her hand. "Erm... I always hate this part but Aymee Mellark... died last night..." A tear escapes her eye. I hear a glass smash and turn around to see the glass that Rye was previously holding, smashed on the floor. More tears fall from my eyes and I look around. All the Mellarks just start crying simultaneously. John leans forward and rests his head in his arms. Rye is openly crying with his eyes still on Evelyn. Prim is curled up into Katniss' side who is also crying. Chris is trying to comfort his dad but is still crying. "She died from what I like to call the broken heart syndrome. My best guess is that it was because of Poppy." We all look at her. "Broken heart syndrome is the body's sudden, massive release of adrenaline, which can 'stun' the bottom half of the main pumping chamber of the heart, in effect paralysing it and requiring the top portion of the chamber to work much harder to compensate. Either she has been holding on for a year or something recently has set it off. Someone mentioning Poppy or something like that but either way It made the top part of her heart work harder then finally the tendons where... tired out I suppose and then they just snapped and she died instantly... it happened only a couple hours ago, around 2 amfrom what I can guess." She says.

A couple minutes later, John stands up. "Well I guess I'm going to open the bakery." He starts to walk away slowly.

"What? No." I say jumping up and standing in front of him. "I'll work the bakery today it's fine, you just take the day off." I say and he looks at me.

"Peeta, you cant work the bakery alone." He says.

"He won't be alone." Katniss says standing up. "I'll help him."

"I can't ask you to do that Katniss, you have school." John says.

"I can skip school for one day and this is more important." She says.

"Okay well at least let me pay you, I can't let you work here without paying you. I'm not going to take no for an answer." John replies.

"Okay. Well let's get to work then, I'm sure Peeta can tell me what to do." She smiles sadly and walks towards the door to the front of the bakery but stops when she gets there and turns back around to face us all.

"Well, you will have to call the justice building and they will send someone over to take Aymee to the hallowed ground... me and Prim should get going because she has to be ready for school soon." Mrs Everdeen says and takes Prim's hand, pulling her up from the sofa and leaving the house.

"You just sit down and take time to yourself, I'll sort everything out." I say to John and push him back towards the sofas. He smiles and thanks me.

I call the justice building first and have to answer a lot of questions about Mrs Mellark and how she died. I tell them everything I know and eventually they say that they will send someone over. I thank them and hang up. Next, I call the school.

"Hello, district 12 school? How May I help you?" A voice says.

"Hi this is Peeta Abernathy, I'm ringing up to tell you that me, Katniss Everdeen and Rye Mellark will not be coming into school today." I say through the phone.

"And why might that be?" She asks. She probably knows that most people take the week off to spend with their family but none of them ring up to tell them.

"Well this morning, Mrs Mellark died and Rye is too upset to come into school and Me and Katniss are taking over here at the bakery for them so that they have time to grieve." I reply to her.

"Okay well I'll let your teachers know." She says and hangs up. I turn back around and the Mellarks are gone. Katniss is standing there by herself with her arms folded.

"So where do we start?" She asks me.

"Well we cant open the bakery until we at least have something baked and I have to wait for the people from the justice building to show up. I'm gonna need you to go into the front and wait for them to show up. Call me when they have and I'm gonna go and bake some stuff." I say and she walks off into the front. I sigh. This is going to be a really long day.

Katniss comes running in to the kitchen 20 minutes later to tell me that the men have arrived. I place the dough in the oven to cook and walk to the front door with Katniss. Two men are standing at the door in big black suits. Both holding one end of a stretcher. I unlock the door and open it wide for them. "In the back, up the stairs and to the right at the end of the hallway." I tell them, they nod and walk off. I don't really want to go back up there today.

I walk outside and sit on the bench outside the bakery doors. A few people have come out of their shops to see what's going on. They must have recognized the suits that the men where wearing. I look across the square and recognize Ria. She's standing outside with Ross. She catches my glance and smiles slightly.

The men come back out 10 minutes later with a human sized bag on the stretcher that obviously has a body in it. "Thank you." I say to them and hands them both a couple of coins.

They nod in thanks. "I'm sorry for your loss." One of them says and they set off back to the justice building. I take a seat back on the bench and run my hands through my hair. I feel someone sit down next to me and look up to see Katniss. She's looking at the floor and kicking around stones with her shoes.

"Tough day huh?" She asks.

"I know right." I say. "I just feel sorry for the Mellarks, first they lost Poppy, now Aymee, it's just so bad."

She looks up at me with a tear in her eye. "I'm sorry about Poppy, I know you loved her." I feel a couple tears roll down my cheeks.

"It's okay, it's in the past." I say.

"No it's not okay, she volunteered for me and I still don't understand why, she didn't even know me but I promise If I could take it back I would and I would be dead right now." I look at her and somehow, the picture of her being dead pains me more than thinking about Poppy.

"She didn't do it for you, she did it for me." I say.

"Why is volunteering for me, helping you?" She asks.

"I can't tell you." I say, I'm really not up to telling her after everything that has happened this morning. "Can we please just not talk about it." I ask with more tears falling from my eyes. "It's been a long morning and all I want to do is get to work then get home."

She nods and carries on looking at me. I look at her and our eyes lock for a second. She smiles sadly and starts crying again. I've only ever seen Katniss cry once before today and that was the day her father died. From what I heard, she hardly ever cries. Now though, she is crying a river. Just looking at her whilst she is crying, makes me cry.

I shuffle closer to her on the bench. "C'mere." I say and wrap my arms around her shoulders. She rests her head on my chest and wraps her arms around me hesitantly. The feeling of her arms around me is probably one of the best I've ever felt. It's like she fits right in. Like we where made for eachother.

"Thanks Peeta." She says into my chest.

"Anytime." I reply and she pulls away.

"I don't normally cry like that. In fact I don't normally cry." She lets out a small laugh and looks down at her hands.

"Come on we need to open the bakery." I say. I stand up and offer her my hand. She looks at it, smiles and then takes it and I pull her up and we walk back into the bakery.

We open the bakery at 8:00am, which means that we can't close it until 8:00pm. All the shops in town have to be open for 12 hours no matter what and all the shops open at 5 so town normally shuts down at 5pm. Today, the bakery will be the only place open past 5 even though everyone knows that town shuts down at 5 so no-one is going to to come to the bakery after that.

The day goes by slowly and we hardly get any customers, only people coming in to ask what happened this morning. It turns out to be a pretty fun day though, well as fun as it can be when someone died this morning. I don't have to bake much stuff so me and Katniss end up talking all day. I even crack a couple jokes and make her laugh. At one point she starts crying over her father and I have to comfort her again.At 5:32 we both realise that we aren't going to get any customers.

"Do you think we should close up?" I ask her.

"But we can't, we have to keep it open till 8." She says.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." I let out a laugh. "I'm gonna buy something then... might as well." She smiles and I put some coins in the till. I walk into the back and take a loaf of bread and start slicing it up. I make 2 cheese sandwiches and buy 3 cupcakes. I grab 2 glasses of milk and walk back into the front. I walk around the counter and sit down at the table that Katniss is sitting at. "I got us some food." I say.

"Peeta, you shouldn't have..." She says, shaking her head.

"Well I did, I know that you couldn't go hunting today so I made you some dinner and I'll give you something to take home to your family, plus the money for helping out." She starts to say something but I interrupt. "No I don't want to hear it, if you don't take the food then I'll drop it off at your house myself." I say, she smiles at me and takes a bite of her sandwich.

We close up the shop at 8:03. We haven't had any customers for the past 3 hours. When the lights are off and all the blinds are shut, I lock the door. We walk to the till and I reach in to get Katniss' money but take it from my pocket at the last minute when she's not looking. I close the till and hand her the money. Then we go into the back and I give her 2 big loaves of bread for her family. "Come on I'll walk back with you." I say after we have shouted upstairs to say goodbye to the Mellarks. Only Chris answers though.

We walk through the streets of town and onto the dirt roads of the seam. Just as we've got out of town, it starts to rain. I grab the bag that Katniss is holding and shove it in my coat, to keep the bread warm. "What are you doing?" She asks looking confused.

"I'm keeping the bread warm and away from the rain." She smiles and we carry on walking. The bread is so hot that it's actually burning me but I try not to make it obvious.

We get to Katniss' house, 20 minutes later after winding through the rows of houses that make up the seam. She opens the door and turns to me. "Do you want to come in?" She asks shyly.

"No actually I've got to get home." I lie.

"Please just for a little while?" She asks with a smile.

"Okay, sure." I walk over the threshold for the second time today and walk the couple of steps to the living room. Prim is asleep on the two-seater and Evelyn is poking at the dying fire. She spins around when we walk in.

"Oh Katniss, I was wondering when you would get back... and you brought Peeta." Katniss nods. "Hi Peeta. How is everyone at the bakery?" She asks, liking herself to her feet.

"I'm not quite sure actually, when you left, they locked themselves in their rooms." I say.

"Oh then maybe I'll go over in the morning and see how they. All are." She smiles sadly. "What's under your jacket?" She points to my jacket.

I pull out the bag and hold out out. "There's 2 loaves of bread, me and Katniss ate at the bakery and I know Katniss couldn't go hunting today so I brought you some food for your dinner."

"Well that's very kind of you Peeta, thank you." She smiles and takes the bag off me.

"Mum, why is Prim asleep down here." Katniss asks.

"She wanted to wait up for you but ended up falling asleep." Mrs Everdeen says.

"Okay well I'll wake her up, so I can get her upstairs." Katniss says and starts walking towards the sofa. I take a step forward and catch her arm.

"Wait, you don't have to do that, I'll take her up if you want." I say with a smile.

Katniss starts shaking her head. "No Peeta, you don't need to, you've had a long day."

"No it's fine I can do it." I say and walk past her, towards the sofa. I slide my arms under Prim and she stirs. I pick her up off the sofa and her eyes open into slits.

"What's going on?" She mumbles.

"Just go back to sleep." I say to her.

"Is Katniss here?" She asks.

"Yeh she's right here." I say, turning around and looking at Katniss. She walks over and kisses Prim on the head.

"Goodnight prim." She whispers and Prim falls back asleep. "Come on I'll show you where to go." I already know where to go but I don't tell her. I just let her lead the way.

We walk up the stairs and through the door that I went through this morning. I'm guessing that the other door is a bathroom. I follow Katniss into the bedroom and she pulls back the covers on one of the beds. I place Prim down lightly and Katniss covers her up with the covers and kisses her on the head. She automatically curls up in a ball and Katniss smiles sadly. "What's wrong?" I ask her.

"I'm just scared." She says, wrapping her arms around herself. "Of the reaping, what if something happens and she's reaped." She's still looking at Prim.

I walk closer and stroke her back. She looks up at me. "Trust me, the capitol might be evil but I don't think even the president is evil enough to send that little girl to her death." I say. A silent tear falls from her eye and she looks into my eyes.

"Thanks Peeta." She says.

An hour later, we are sitting on the two-seater downstairs and Evelyn is sitting on a chair that she has pulled out from the small dining table. Katniss reaches behind me and I have to move forward so that she can take the blanket from behind me, she wraps it around herself and brings her legs up and under herself. Katniss and Evelyn start talking and I lean my head against the back of the sofa. In a couple of minutes I find myself falling asleep.

The next thing I know, I'm being woken up by Prim. "Peeta?" She asks.

"Good morning Prim." I say and sit up.

"Do you want some breakfast?" She asks.

"If it's no trouble." I reply.

"It's no trouble at all." She says and walks off into the kitchen.  
I wipe my eyes and look around. The blanket that Katniss had around her last night is tangled up in my legs and partly over the top part of my body and my shoes and jacket that I was wearing when I fell asleep are sitting neatly on the table across the room. All night I've been waking up from nightmares, I think I had about 4 altogether and I wasn't even asleep for long. After the last nightmare I didn't want to go to sleep but after not getting much sleep yesterday I ended up closing my eyes again. At one point I wrote up whilst Katniss and Evelyn where still down here and when I jumped I started Katniss, it was quite funny actually. I swing my legs over the side of the sofa and look up at the clock. 7:46am. I haven't been home in almost 28 hours, dad and Rosie will be wondering where I am. I guess I'll see Rosie at school later anyway.

I stand up and walk across the room and pull on my shoes but leave my jacket where it is. A couple minutes later all the Everdeen's walk in holding a plate of toast each. Prim is holding two. "Do you mind sitting at the table, Mum doesn't like us eating anywhere else." Prim asks.

"Of course Prim." I say with a smile. Katniss pulls out the table so that I can sit on the side against the wall. Somehow I'm guessing that the table hasn't been pulled out since Mr Everdeen was alive. She walks past me and grabs an arm full of stuff off a chair in the corner and puts it down on the sofa. She then picks up the chair and takes it over to the table. "You can sit here." She says, not looking me in the eye. I walk over and sit down at the chair next to the wall and Prim places my food down infront of me. "Thanks" I say and she smiles. The table takes over most of the room so Katniss has to climb over the sofa arm to get to her chair. When she is finally sat down we all eat.

The food is gone in 5 minutes and Evelyn turns to me. "So how did you sleep Peeta?" She asks.

"Good, I suppose... I mean, I kept waking up from nightmares but I was definitely comfortable." I say.

"Well it was probably nothing compared to your capitol bed at home." She says laughing a little.

I laugh. "It was way more comfortable than my own sofa though." The last time I slept on my sofa was when I fell asleep in front of the Tv one time last year, whilst I was watching Poppy's games and when I woke up, my whole body was aching. I was walking stiff for about a week.

"Really?" She asks with a smile on her face.

"Yeh, it's horrible." I say. "I mean, we do actually have multiple sofas in our house but they are all pretty much the same anyway." I laugh.

"Well personally I've never been in a Victors Village house, I'm guessing it's really nice." She says.  
"Not really..." She looks at me with creased eyebrows. "Well everytime I walk through the seam or town, everyone watches me. I'm just tired of people thinking that I'm better than them just because I live in the victors village, I hate living there, i'd love to just live like everyone else in the district because maybe then they wouldn't look at me like I am the president or something or like I'm my father because I am nothing like the president or my father at all."

She looks at me. "Don't take this the wrong way Peeta but you are like your dad, especially when he was your age." She says.

"How?"

"Well when he was your age, he was really sweet. He was from the seam though so he didn't have many friends. There was me, John, Maysilee, Ash - my husband - and Cole who actually talked to him. Me, John and Maysilee where 2 years below him though do we didn't see him much. Ash and Cole where his best friends though. He first introduced me to Ash. You can understand how broken up he was when Ash and Cole died in that mine explosion. He was really smart and was very good looking." She laughs.

"I never knew all that." I say.

"Yeh when Haymitch and Maysilee where sent into the games, Me, John, Ash and Cole started a stall at the Hob to get money for them and then sent it to the capitol for them. That was when I fell in love with Ash." She smiles at the memories. "Anyway, you even look a little like him too but most of your looks I'm guessing came from your mother, whoever she is because I'd say you have your dad's eyes and nose. Your eyes are a different colour than his but they are the same shape. You also have the same build that he did at the age of 16."

"Who is your mother anyway, no-one has ever talked about her." Prim asks me.

"No-one ever talks about her because no-one knows her." I say. In that moment I have a couple reasons running through my head why I shouldn't tell them but for some reason I do. "If I tell you, you have to promise me that you will never tell anyone because nobody can know just yet." They all nod and move closer. "Well my mother is Effie Trinket." All their mouths drop.

"What? How?" Katniss asks.

"Well I don't really know, dad's never talked about it but when Rosie was with that other couple that everyone thinks we send her too she is actually in the capitol with mum."

"What about you, do you ever get to see her?" Prim asks.

"Yeh, only for about 5 minutes a year when she comes round before the reaping." I say.

"That's terrible." Evelyn says.

"So why does Rosie live here permanently now then?" Katniss asks.

"Because President Snow found out and threatened to have me, Rosie and Dad killed but then mum bargained with him and now Rosie isn't allowed to go back to the capitol."

"So who else knows about it other than us?" Evelyn asks.

"Erm... the Mellarks know because i work with them and it was hard for me to keep lying them and Rye is my best friend. Hazelle knows because she used to look after Me and Rosie when we were kids and he was in the capitol so he had to tell her. It also turns out that Gale was listening in because he asked me about it the next day-" Katniss cuts me off.

"Wait! You're telling me that Gale knew all this time and didn't even say anything to me." She sounds really annoyed at me or Gale, I can't even tell.

"Well I'm sorry but I made him promise not to tell anyone about it and you didn't even know that we where friends until two days ago." I say, matter-of-factly.

"I know and I'm still annoyed that he didn't say anything about that either." She says, raising her voice.

"Katniss, I'm sorry but he promised, don't be mad at him, if anything be mad at me for making him promise. At the time he didn't even know you if he did I think he would want already tell you about it and surprisingly I would actually agree."

"Whatever." She says and did back.

"Anyway, I think you kids should get to school." Evelyn says.

10 minutes later we are all ready for school and we set off at 8:12. We are already late. It takes about an hour to get to school from her so we are going to be about half an hour late. Katniss comes up with the great idea to run so we all run through the seam and into town. When we make it to the town square, Prim stops, saying that she is to tired to run. Katniss tries to pull her along saying that they are going to be late but Prim pulls away from Katniss and plants her feet in the ground. "Would you come if I gave you a piggy bank?" I ask her and her face lights up with a smile, she nods, I walk over and bend down, she jumps onto my back, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist and we set off running. We finally run out of the town square and into the school yard, which is empty. We run through the doors and drop off prim at her classroom and carry on running down the hall. I catch the time on a clock in the hallway. 9:07. We are almost half an hour late so I'm guessing that running here made no difference. We run through the door of the classroom and everyone jumps. Katniss runs in behind me. "Did we make it are we late?" She says way too quickly.

"No you two are 25 minutes later, where have you been?" The teacher says.

"Sorry, we woke up late." I know it's a lie but I don't think she would be happy if I told her we where talking.

"Okay well take your seats." I walk to the back of the class and take my seat next to Rosie.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick!" She hisses at me as the teacher goes on teaching again.

"Mrs Mellark died yesterday morning so me and Katniss ran the bakery for them and then I ended up falling asleep at the Everdeen's." I whisper to her.

"Oh no...maybe I should go over to the bakery." She says.

"No it's fine, just leave them alone for a while." I say and she nods.

* * *

**I know this chapter was shorter than the others but I still hope you liked it. It was a pretty emotional chapter but good to write... the next chapter is the reaping... please review and tell me what you thought of it! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

**It took me a while to write this chapter and it was still fun to write. The reaping is in this chapter get ready for emotions! Good luck! **

_Last time: "Oh no...maybe I should go over to the bakery." She says. _

_"No it's fine, just leave them alone for a while." I say and she nods_.

* * *

The rest of the week goes by quickly. On Friday Rosie comes up with the idea of hosting a dinner for all our friends who are entered in the reaping. Sort of a good luck dinner. Of course I think it's a good idea but we have to talk to dad. When he comes down for breakfast, I make him pancakes and then me and Rosie talk to him about it. He agrees that it is a pretty good idea but he doesn't want anything to do with it incase he actually has to mentor one of the kids, he doesn't want to know them before hand because it would make everything harder, which is fair so he decides to stay in his room as long as I make him some food. Obviously I agree as long as he's out the way. On Thursday and Friday I work at the bakery. They are never open the weekend before the reaping at all but they are open on reaping day. Only in the morning though. Each day when I've come home from school and gone to the bakery, Evelyn has been there, with John. Atleast he's found someone to talk too.

On Friday, me and Rosie ask around at school to see who wants to come to our little get together on Sunday. By the end of the day we have enough people. We have: Delly, Rye, Gale, Rory, Katniss, Prim and River who all said that they would be able to make it. We asked Ria but she said that she wouldn't be able to come because she is working and then has to take care of her dad. Rosie also tried to get me to ask Gina but I don't particularly want her glued to me all night. We decide to leave it at that and focus on what we are going to do for the night.

On Sunday, me and Rosie spend all day, tidying and cooking. Rosie goes out to buy us some alcohol because we threw it all away earlier in the week. She comes back with one of the carts outside the hob. I hear the front door bang open and she falls in, carrying a crate off what looks like whiskey. "How much did you buy?" I shout, running through the hallway to help her up off the floor.

"Enough for everyone." She says as I help her to her feet.

"Yeh but how much?" I ask, she's finally on her feet and we work together to rid her body of the dust that's settle on the floor and the alcohol that came out of one of the bottles that smashed on the floor. Luckily only one smashed. Unluckily it all went on Rosie.

"Well there are 3 more crates outside." She says.

"Don't you think that's a little too much?" I ask.

"Well if we have too much then we can store it in the basement or take it back or something." She says slowly. "Now can you help me bring the rest in, the first crate didn't go very well."

"Yeh you sort this one out." I point to the one on the floor. "And I'll go and get another one." I'm about to walk out the door but I spin around at the last minute with a thought. "Did you get anything other than alcohol because Prim and Rory can't drink it." I ask.

"Yeh there's a 5th crate full of orange juice, apple juice, lemonade, cola and something else, it's at the back of the cart." She says and I walk out the door.

After everything is clean and set up and all the food is cooked, me and Rosie run upstairs to get ready. We told everyone to wear formal clothes so me and Rosie are doing the same. The only difference is that Rosie knows a completely different version of formal than most people in district 12 do so I have to specify district 12 formal to her before I end up seeing her in some stupid Capitol dress that mum bought her. I dress in some new jeans and my new orange button down shirt. I pull on my better looking pair of boots. I only have 2 pairs that I like. The rest of the shoes I have are all Capitol shoes and are horrible and are all in a big black back in the bottom of my wardrobe. Then I leave my room and walk over to Rosie's room. I knock. "Come in." She says and I walk into the room. She's dressed in a light purple dress with long sleeves that stops about an inch above her knees. It has buttons from top to bottom and is finished off with a big thick black belt and some flat pumps on her feet. "You look lovely." I say.

"Thank you and you look very handsome." I smile.

I'm quickly brought back to the reason why I originally came here. "Is there any chance that you could do something about my hair?" I ask her. My hair has always been hard to tame. It's very curly and it needs cutting.

"Well mum taught me how to cut hair, I could cut it for you, then try comb it down for you?" She suggests.

"Yeh sure." She pulls out the chair from her desk and I sit down.

"You probably don't want to get it on your shirt though because you will be itching all night if it gets inside your shirt." She says and I strip off my shirt. It still feels rather strange to sit infront of my sister without a shirt but she's probably used to it by now, she's actually walked in on me in the shower before now and I don't wear a top to bed and she'd sneak into my bed sometimes a couple years ago.

10 minutes later my hair looks presentable. I pull on my shirt again, just in time to hear someone ring the doorbell. "Come on." I say to Rosie and we walk downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, she walks into the kitchen to check everything is ready and I walk to the door. It's Rye. He smiles at me. His smile is so weird to see now. Since his mother died, he hasn't smiled at anything. Suddenly his dad pops his head round the corner of the door. "Hi Peeta, hope you didn't mind that I showed up?" He asks politely.

"No of course not, I think I made too much food anyway, I was very nervous about today. This is the first time we have had guests in this house except from Capitol people." I say laughing. "You two look good by the way." Rye is wearing a pair of jeans and a black sweater, I can't see what's underneath and John is wearing a pair of posh black pants and a white button down shirt.

"Thanks Peeta, you look good too." Rye says.

I move aside so that they can walk in. "Just walk down there and Rosie will show you to the dining room. There's drinks while you wait for everyone else." They smile and continue on into the kitchen. I stick my head out into the victors village and look around. I can see Delly walking through the victors village gates holding a box. I step out and run to help her. "Delly!" She looks up and smiles. "What's in the box?" I ask, I stop when I'm infront of her and give her a hug.

"I brought you a cake. A thank you for doing this." She says handing me the box.

"Well thank you for the cake." I look down to her for the first time and see a big fluffy coat that was probably made by her mother. I can see the bottom of a white dress, poking out of the bottom and some flat black shoes on her feet. I walk her back to my house and just as we get to the door, I hear someone shout. "PEETA! DELLY!" I spin around and so does Delly. River is running towards us. His jacket flying in the wind behind him. When he reaches us, he takes a moment before speaking. "Hi." He says.

"Why did you run?" I ask him.

"I don't really know." He bursts out laughing and I pull him into my house. I'm letting all the cold air into my house and I need to shut the door. "Just go down there and Rosie will show you to the dining room. Rye and John are already here." I say and they walk off.

I pull my jacket off the hook and step out the door. I pull it closed and sit on the step outside. A couple of minutes later, I hear talking and then laughing. I look towards the gates just in time to see Gale and Katniss walk through them. Prim and Rory follow and then Evelyn brings up the rear. I smile and stand up. Prim sees me and waves to me. I wave back. They make it to the house in no time and I show them to the dining room. When Katniss walks past me I notice her for the first time. She looks beautiful. She's actually wearing a dress. Her dress is dark green and is long sleeved. It just drops to below her knees and it's finished off with her hunting boots that disappear up the dress. Her hair is in it's usual braid down her shoulder. She catches me looking at her. "Don't even start!" She hisses. "Gale has already been laughing at me for wearing a dress."

"No... I..." She's that beautiful that I'm speechless. Everyone looks up at me and Rosie coughs behind me before patting me on the back. "I think you look beautiful." I say quietly. She smiles and looks down. I see a hint of red in her cheeks and I take her fathers hunting jacket off her.

I notice that Prim is wearing an old dress of Katniss'. It's yellow and stops just above the knee. She is also wearing her usual everyday boots. Her hair has been left down all natural. Mrs Everdeen on the other hand is just wearing a knee length skirt and a white button down shirt, also wearing her everyday boots.

Once everyone is seated and has a drink. I leave to get the first course of food. If I've learnt anything from my mothers ways, it's that a proper meal, has 3 courses. Most people in the seam don't even get one course so Rory and Prim have huge smiles on their faces when I tell them that they have 3 courses coming. Katniss has a scowl on her face though which makes me laugh a little. She doesn't like people feeding her but I bet when she starts eating she will forget about it. It's not like she has to eat it all anyway, she can eat as much as she wants.

For the next hour and a half, we all work together to eat all the remaining food. Eventually we all give up and there's still atleast one more serving of the main course for everyone but no one else wants to eat. "What about Dad?" Rosie asks.

"What about me?" I hear from the doorway. I spin around to see my dad standing there still fully dressed.

"We where just gonna ask if you wanted more food. We have some left." I ask.

"Actually I was just gonna go for a walk into town but will you save it for me? I'll warm it up when I get back." He asks.

"Yeh sure, we are all done eating anyway." I say and he smiles.

"Great! Well I'll be going." He starts walking out the door.

"DONT BUY ALCOHOL!" I shout to him just before I hear the front door shut. I trust him to not buy alcohol but I just felt the need to remind him. With the reaping tomorrow I know that all he wants is a drink. "If he comes back drunk then I'm gonna lock him in his room." I say to Rosie and she starts laughing.

"He won't go down without a fight you know?" She says with a smile on her face.

"Yeh I know." I reply.

"So what should we do next?" Rosie whispers to me whilst everyone else starts talking again.

"Music and drinks?" I ask and she nods in agreement. We stand up and walk around the table to clear the plates.

Rosie walks out and brings in the radio. She has to bang it on the top a couple of times but eventually it starts the music and everyone cheers. We bring in the remaining crates with the drinks in and place them on the table. Then we tell everyone to get up and we push the table against the far walk so there's room to dance or something. I walk out the room and get a tray of glasses for the drinks but when I get back people have already started drinking them out of the bottle. I laugh and walk over and grab a whiskey. I take a sip. It burns going down but I get past it and take another sip.

Surprisingly the first person to get up and dance is Katniss. She looks around the room whilst swaying her hips to the beat of the song, looking for someone to dance with her. Her eyes lock on mine and I shake my head with a smile. She narrows her eyes. "Come on Peeta, you know you want to." She says with a seductive swish of her hair. It doesn't go very well and she gets her tatty beaded bracelet caught in her hair. I walk over and untangle it from her hair but as I'm turning around she catches my arm. "You don't have a choice now." She says with an evil smile.

"Oh no." I say with a smile.

"Oh yes!" She wiggles her eyebrows and then pulls me along with her in a circular motion. Our feet glide together to the music and she laughs when she stands on my foot. I wave it off like it's nothing which causes her I believe that she can stand on my feet so she puts both her feet on mine and latches onto me really closely. The song turns slow and I start to move my feet. It's harder with someone standing on your feet but Katniss isn't at all heavy so I don't mind it as much. I close my eyes and let the rythm move my feet. With her head against my chest and the music playing and me holding her close and her not pulling away in disgust, I can honestly say I've never been happier.

After a couple of minutes, someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn my head to see Gale standing there with a smile on his face. "I think I can take it from here." He says and I hand Katniss over. She cuddles into his chest instead and I pick my drink back up. I watch them spin around the room until the song changes again. It's not a slow song any more it's very bouncy. I smile and start to tap my feet on the floor to the music.

Within seconds I'm up on my feet and dancing along to the music by myself. I pull my drink up to my lips to find it empty. I think it may have started going to my head already but normally I wouldn't be stood up dancing by myself to a song I don't know. I stop dancing, only to walk over to the drinks and pick up another Whiskey. When I turn back around, Rosie stands there with a new bottle of whiskey. "You wanna dance?" She asks me.

"Yeh." I reply and we start to spin around the floor, dodging Gale and Katniss as they dance past us. We do a switch off in the middle of the song and Rosie spins past Katniss who pretty much jumps into my arms. I catch a glance at Rosie out of the corner of my eye. She's just latching onto a drunk Gale when they music gets going again. "This party is amazing Peeta!" Katniss says excitedly. They smell on her breath is definitely whiskey.

"You're amazing!" I say without realising.

"What?" She asks with a smile.

"Nothing!"

"You said I'm amazing!" She bursts out laughing. "You're lying! I get it now." I just smile.

The song ends and me and Rosie sit back down. Delly and River get up to dance alongside Gale and Katniss.

At 9:02, almost everyone is drunk except Rory and Prim. Prim is asleep on one of the chairs. I'm surprised she's able to sleep with how loud the music is. "Peeta!" I hear from behind me and I spin around to see Mrs Everdeen standing there. "I think I'm going now! I need to get Prim home! She's tired!" She's trying to shout over the music and I can just barely catch what she is saying. "I talked to Katniss and she wants to stay for while but Prim needs to sleep for tomorrow!" I nod. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow and good luck." I nod again and she walks over to Prim. I see her shake her and she sits up. Prim smiles at me and they leave.

I walk over to the radio and switch it off, everyone looks at me. I turn to Rory because he's the only one of us that isn't drunk. "Rory, do you know how to build a fire?" I ask.

"Yeh why?" He asks in reply.

"Because I may need your help." I turn to everyone else. "Let's take this party outside." They all cheer and we leave through the back door.

It takes half an hour but eventually me and Rory have set up a little camp site in my back yard and got a bonfire going to keep us all warm. "So does anyone want marshmallows?" I ask.

"I've never had a marshmallow!" Katniss says, slurring her words.

"What! Well you must try one!" I reach behind me and grab the bag of marshmallows and a stick from the pile beside it. I stick the marshmallow on the end and hang it over the fire until it goes a nice brown colour and hand it to Katniss. Her face turns from confusion to delight in seconds.

"That is the best thing I have ever tasted!" She exclaims and I laugh. "Can I have another one?"

"Of course you can." I roast her another one and hand it to her. Then I roast one for myself. "So does anyone know anything we can do?" I ask.

"I thought you had the night planned?" Gale asks.

"Yeh I do? I just wondered if anyone has any suggestions?" I ask.

"We could play strip poker!" Delly says excitedly.

"Really Dell?" Rosie asks.

"Yeh, I've never played it before, I read about it but never played it."

"Have you ever even played Poker?" I ask.

She looks confused for a minute before finally finding her answer. "No..."

"Then we can't play it." I say.

"We could play strip cards!" She says. "I just made it up now in my head... We all get a card and whoever has the lowest has to take off a piece of their clothing and everyone else except from the person who has the highest has to take a drink."

"Yeh that doesn't sound too bad." I say. "What do you say guys?" I ask everyone.

"Erm... I'm not playing!" Rory says.

"Yeh me neither!" John adds.

"Well then you two can watch if you want?" They both nod. "Okay I'll go and get the cards!" I run inside and grab the cards out of a drawer in the kitchen. When I get back outside, Katniss, Gale, Rye, River, Delly and Rosie are all sitting in a circle and John and Rory and watching by the fire. I join the circle and place the cards down. "Right I'll deal them and you can't look at your card until everyone else does!" I say and they all nod.

I hand them all a card, face down infront of them. "Right turn them over!" I turn mine over. 7 of hearts.

Delly: 5 of clubs

Rosie: 9 of diamonds.

River: 4 of spades.

Gale: 10 of diamonds

Rye: 6 of clubs.

Katniss: 2 of hearts

Everyone laughs at Katniss. "Katniss Everdeen we need a piece of your clothing!" Delly shouts. "Everyone else but Gale drink!" I pick up my whiskey an take a large gulp. Katniss pulls off one of her shoes and places it in the middle of the circle.

Second round:

Delly: 4 of hearts

Rye: 3 of spades

River: 9 of clubs

Rosie: 10 of hearts

Katniss: 11 of hearts

Me: 2 of clubs

Gale: 6 of diamonds

"Peeta Abernathy! We need a part of your clothing!" Rosie shouts! "Everyone else but Katniss drink up!" I take off my left shoe and place it in the middle next to Katniss'

The game finishes when someone is only in their underwear and by the time the game has finished I only have my jeans and my underwear on. Katniss is in her underwear and her right shoe which looks strange. Delly still has her dress on. Gale is wearing his top and his underwear. Rosie is wearing her dress. River is almost fully dressed. Rye however is the one that finished the game and he just sits there in his underwear with a huge smile on his face. "Now we all have to dance around the fire in our underwear!" Delly screams.

"Dell? I love you but that's insane!" Rosie grins. "Insanely good! Come on girls!"

"YEH!" Katniss screams and jumps to her feet. She deposits her leftover shoe into the pile and Delly and Rosie strip off their dresses before they all run over to the fire and start dancing around it singing a song I've never heard before. Obviously I'm laughing. I stand up and look to the guys. "Come on guys!" I shout and follow the girls.

"YEYYYY!" Rosie shouts when I arrive their. "PEBBLES HERE!" She runs off and starts dancing around like a fairy. Delly follows her. Katniss stands there and looks at me with a smile on her face. "You know you're actually very good looking!" She looks down at the floor. "Did I just say that?" She says under her breath. "Sorry!"

"It's fine, you're not too bad yourself!" I say and grab her by the waist. I pull her up and swing her over my shoulder.

"HEY PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN NOW!" She laughs.

"Nope!" I shout and carry on dancing around the fire with Katniss over my shoulder. Rye, River and Gale join us. Gale and River have both stripped down to their underwear too so I'm the only one wearing more than underwear. When I put Katniss down she looks at my pants. "Hey it's a bit unfair that you get to wear them and I have to look like this!"

"Then maybe you should wear some clothes!" She smiles and runs back to the pile of our clothing. She comes back a second later wearing my bright orange long sleeved button down shirt. It's very big on her and she has to role up the sleeves. "I meant your clothes."

"They're still clothes!" She shouts. I smile. I'm in no fit state to object and she actually looks kind of good in my clothes.

The rest of the night goes by in a blur but a fun blur. The next thing I remember is waking up. I'm outside in my back yard next to a burning out fire. It's cold and I'm only wearing my pants. What the hell happened last night. My head hurts like crazy. I put my hand to my head and find that someone has tried to put my hair in a pony tail because there's a bobble in my hair and it's sticking up. I sit up and look around. This place is a mess. There are bottles everywhere.

Katniss is lying beside me in my orange shirt that I remember putting on yesterday but I don't know why she's wearing it. Her hair is fanning out in the grass behind her and she still has a bottle of whiskey in her hand, most of the whiskey has spilled out onto the grass. Her dress and shoes are in a pile about a metre to my right, along with someone else jeans, another dress and a deck of cards.

Rye is lying not far from me, he's only wearing his top which I guess explains the jeans. I recognise the dress as Rosie's who I'm guessing is in the house. I don't know where everyone else is or what time anyone went home. I lean over to Katniss and shake her shoulder lightly. She let's out a little moan. "Where am I?" She crokes out.

"My house." I say and she turns to me with narrowed eyes.

"What time is it?" She asks.

"I don't know I haven't checked yet."

"My head is hurting." She drops the whiskey an puts both of her hands on her head. She pulls away for a second and looks down. "Wait, why am I wearing your dress?"

"I don't know, I don't remember what happened last night."

"Where's Gale and Rory?"

"They went home I guess. It is the reaping today." I say.

"What!" She shoots up but takes a second because I her headache. "Oh god! I totally forgot about that, I need to get home to Prim." She attempts to stand up but I have to put my arms out because she falls backwards onto me.

"Are you sure you don't want some help?" I ask.

"No." She pushes up off me and I push her too her feet. This time she stays. She walks over to where her dress is and tells me to turn around whilst she changes my top for her dress. I feel my shirt thrown at me head a minute later and I laugh. "Can I turn around now?"

"Yeh." I turn around and slide on my shirt. "Good luck today." I say to her.

"Good luck to you too Peeta. Thank you for last night. I'm guessing it was fun and I miss fun. It's been a while since I've had fun." She says with a smile. "It's been a while since Prim had fun too."

"No problem." I say and she leaves. I stand up and walk into the house. The clock reads, 7:23am. Great that gives me time to tidy up before my father kills me.

12:00 comes in no time and me, Rosie and dad are all dressed and ready for the reaping. Rye went home not long after Katniss and me and Rosie worked together to get the place clean before dad woke up. I'm dressed in a black button down shirt and dark jeans that Rosie picked out for me. She's dressed in a nice pink dress with some flat shoes and dads dressed in a white button down shirt and some blue jeans. Me and Rosie both look like crap because of last night and dad looks really tired. We are waiting for Mum to come and escort Dad to the square. I don't know why she still does it every year but she still feels the need to.

"When do you think she will come?" I ask Dad.

"Couple of minutes." He replies.

"I think I might come with you, get there early, I can't sit around here." I say.

"Yeh me too." Rosie says.

"Ok." Dad says and the conversation is over.

Mum shows up 5 minutes later. She looks a mess, like she's being crying all morning. Her wig is lop sided and Rosie goes to straighten it up for her.

"Everything's gonna be okay mum." I say to her with a smile.

"I guess your right, there's not many slips in them bowls that say your names but I will never forgive myself if I pull one out."

"You're not going to Effie, it would be pretty hard, there's loads of slips in them bowls." Dad says.

"Yeh okay, come on there's a car outside." Mum say beckoning dad forward.

"Mum is it alright if me and Rosie come too or are we not allowed in the car?" I ask.

"No it's fine, Dan's driving us anyway, come on." We walk out the door and I lock it. Me and Rosie both have our keys incase something happens. Well Rosie has dad's because we haven't had one for her made yet beside whenever she is over she just uses dad's anyway.

When we get in the car, Dan looks at us. "So the kids are coming in the car this year?" He asks mum.

"Yeh."

"Okay that's fine, I'll just drop them off at the square before I take you round the back of the justice building." Mum nods and we are off.

In 10 minutes we make it to the square. It's full of people around the square but the actual square itself is almost empty. None of the kids have shown up yet. I open the door and step out, Rosie follows. "Good luck you guys!" Mum says.

"Yeh and we love you." Dad adds.

"Thanks guys. I'll see you in about 2 weeks dad." I smile trying to give them both some hope that we won't be picked.

"Bye." I shut the door and Dan drives off. I turn around to see a lot of the people around the side looking at me. Nobody in the whole district rides in a car unless they are reaped for the hunger games or is a victor so I guess it's strange for them to see us get out of a car. I smile and lower my head, taking Rosie's hand and walking away. I'm about to sign in when Rosie takes me hand. "Could we just wait a second so that we can say good luck to everyone? I don't think that we would get much chance in there." I look down at her. Her face has gone pale and she's shaking.

"Are you okay?"

"No I'm freaking terrified!" She says. "I've never seen one I these things never mind been in one."

"Everything's gonna be okay Rosie. They're going to take some of your blood to check if it actually is you then you have to stand in them roped off areas and then Mum will read some names and I'll see you later okay? I promise." She nods and I hug her.

10 minutes later everyone starts to arrive and I catch sight of River in the crowd. I run up to him. "Hi Peeta." He says.

"Hi... I wanted to know if you remember what happened last night. I woke up this morning in the back yard with Katniss and Rye."

"Really?" He smiles.

"Yeh."

"Well I remember that we had a bonfire and we played strip cards- a game that Delly invented- then we danced around the fire in our underwear and Katniss ended up wearing your shirt. There was a lot of drinking and at one point you attempted to climb one of the trees in your back yard but Katniss shot up past you and you slipped and fell. Then me and Delly left and she slept at mine because her mum couldn't see her drunk."

"What the hell is strip cards?" I ask.

"Erm... Everyone gets a card... The one with lowest number takes of a piece of their clothing and everyone else except the person who got the highest number takes a shot." River says.

"And we really did that?"

"Yeh even Katniss and Gale." He says sounding surprised.

"Why is that surprising?"

"Because as I heard, Katniss Everdeen doesn't like seeing naked people. But they joined in."

"Okay. Anyway good luck today."

"You too." He walks off.

I turn around and bump straight into Rye, who stands with John and Chris. "Hi Peet. Good luck today." He says.

"Yeh you too." He walks past me and John and Chris follow him.

Delly comes by next and I give her a good luck. She returns it of course and I notice that she looks like she's been crying. I don't ask her about it though. I feel Rosie take hold of my hand and I grab onto it. I can feel the dread setting it and I'm suddenly really scared about today's outcome.

5 minutes later I see, Katniss, Prim, Evelyn, Gale and the rest of the Hawthorne's walking this way. They all stop to say goodbye to everyone. Katniss and Prim hug their mother and the Hawthorne's have a group hug.

I wave to them and Gale waves back. The rest of them just look at me. I turn to Rosie. "Are you ready to sign in?" I ask.

"I think so." She says and I squeeze her hand before leading her to the sign in table.

I hold out my finger whilst holding Rosie's hand with my other one. The woman at the desk pricks the tip of my finger with her needle and places my finger on a sheet of paper. I see her scan it. "Peeta Abernathy. Go ahead." I walk past the desk and a peackeeper escorts me to the 16 male section.

"Rosalyn Abernathy. Go ahead." I hear from the desk and turn around to see Rosie being escorted to the 16 female section. I catch her glance and smile at her. She takes her place next to a girl from the seam.

The sections fill quickly and the reaping begins. The mayor talks first about the victors from the district. Dad's the only person on that list but he seems to find enough to say about him. My name comes up and so does Rosie's. When the mayor finishes, dad walks out and takes his seat on one of three chairs. One for him, one for the mayor and the other one, mum sits in. When the mayor leaves the microphone, mum stands up.

"Welcome, welcome, to the 74th annual hunger games. First a message... From the Capitol." She turns to the TV. 'War, terrible war...' I drown out the sound of the video. It's the same one every year... How the war killed many people blah blah blah.

When the video finishes mum turns to us again. "I just love that!" She smiles. "Anyway. First the girls." She walks over to the female bowl and I tighten my hands into fists. Please not Rosie, not Rosie. When she gets back to the microphone and opens the slip of paper, her face softens... It's not Rosie... Thank god... But who then?

"Katniss Everdeen." I hear mum say. Oh no... I feel a tear fall from my eye as I catch sight of her walking through the crowd.

"NO!" Someone shouts. It's a tiny voice that I recognise as Prim. "KATNISS NO!" I watch as Prim runs out and tries to grab hold of Katniss but she is restrained by a peacekeeper.

"Prim! Get back in line!" Katniss hisses at her.

"No! I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!" Prim screams at the top of her lungs.

"NO! NO PRIM NO!" Katniss is shouting. I can hear the desperation in her voice. The peackeepers around Katniss restrain her as she tries to get to Prim who is being escorted to the stage. I hear footsteps behind me and see Gale walking out of his section. He grabs Katniss around the waist and pulls her up and over his shoulder. She's pounding at his back but he isn't going to let her go.

"Well!" Mum shouts. "What an interesting turn of events." We all watch as Prim is escorted up the stairs and takes her place next to Mum. "What's your name dear?" She asks.

"Primrose Everdeen." Prim squeaks out. She's crying.

"So that was your sister?"

"Yes."

"Anyway now on with the reaping. Now for the boys." She walks right and sticks her hand in the reaping bowl. When she pulls it out she walks back over to the microphone. This time her face doesn't soften. This time it holds pure dread. It's me. I know it is.

"P- Peeta Abernathy." She says. The crowd around my thins out as everyone moves away from me like there's a bomb attached to my back. I walk through the crowd and bend under the rope. 2 peacekeepers escort me to the stage and I walk up the stairs, taking my place next to my Mother. "Now as usual we have to ask is there anyone who would like to volunteer for Mr Abernathy." I don't expect anyone to say anything but surprisingly someone does.

"Yes! I do! I VOLUNTEER!" I hear. Gale walks, once again, out of his roped area and walks straight to the justice building steps without the peackeepers. "I volunteer for Peeta Abernathy."

"Okay, Peeta back down you go. Young man come up here." I can hear Katniss screaming in the crowd. She runs out but one of the peackeepers catch her. I walk down the stairs and face Gale. "Come say goodbye to me?" He asks.

"Of course." I reply and he walks past me. I reach the bottom just in time to see Katniss break free from the Peackeepers hold and run for the steps. I catch her around the waist and hold her back.

"Let me go!" She shouts at me.

"No, I can't. Wait for the goodbyes!" She looks at me and doesn't even hesitate to throw her arms around my neck and soak my shoulder with her tears.

"Okay our tributes from district 12. Primrose Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne. Shake hands you two." I hear mum say. All I can see is cloudiness as the tears spill over my eyes and into Katniss' hair. 5 minutes later the justice building doors close and they are gone. I stand there with Katniss in my arms as the crowd thins out.

* * *

**I know this chapter was probably shorter than the others and you probably expected the reaping to be longer but i thought it would be better shorter and faster. Next chapter is the goodbyes! **

**Please review and tell me what you thought! **

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	5. Chapter 5

**2 Chapter 5 **

**I DONT OWN ANYTHING! Except a couple names and plot changes!**!

_Last time: "Okay our tributes from district 12. Primrose Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne. Shake hands you two." I hear mum say. All I can see is cloudiness as the tears spill over my eyes and into Katniss' hair. 5 minutes later the justice building doors close and they are gone. I stand there with Katniss in my arms as the crowd thins out. _

* * *

We sit outside the rooms for 15 minutes before some peackeepers call the families forward. "The Everdeens, can you come with me." One peacekeeper says and escorts Katniss and Evelyn down the hall and out of sight.

"Hawthorne's please follow me." Says the other one and escorts the Hawthorne's down the same hall.

I sit there, tapping me legs on the floor, impatiently. Rosie is sat by my side, crying. Mum is sat on her other side and Dad on Mum's other side. Mum and dad don't actually have to leave until the tributes have to so they get to spend sometime with us every year but it's not normally in the justice building. Last year it was but that was the first year I sat here with them. I stand up and start to pace around. What am I going to say to Gale? I know that he probably will want to save Prim so this will be the last time I see him. I know I haven't talked to him much in the past 4 years but he was still my best friend and I can't just forget that. "Peeta stop pacing." I hear Dad say. I ignore him and carry on walking around. When I pass his seat, he grabs my arm and pulls me down into the chair next to him. "Seriously is annoying."

"Sorry." I mumble. "Dad can you just promise me one thing?"

"What?" He hisses.

"Will you please do anything you can to save Prim. I beg you." I ask him.

He turns his head towards mine. "What about the boy? Isn't he your best friend?"

"Yeh but he will be doing anything he can to save Prim, I know he will so I can't help but side with him." I say.

"Okay, I promise." He gives me a small smile and pats my hands.

"Thanks Dad." I smile back.

It's not long before I hear footsteps again and Katniss and Rory come back in, escorted by peackeepers. I'm guessing the rest of the families went home. Katniss has tears in her eyes and Rory looks as if he was crying. When they take their seats, one of the peackeepers look at their clip board. "Now we need the closest friends." I turn to Katniss and she's looking at me as if she's asking my approval to go first, I nod and she stands up. Her and Rory follow the peackeepers back down the hall.

"Why didn't you go?" Rosie asks, across our parents.

"Because Katniss is now his best friend." I reply.

"But you are his oldest friend." She says.

"That doesn't mean anything."

"That means everything Peeta!" She says.

"Whatever." I say and she shuts up.

The peackeepers return, 5 minutes later by themselves. Katniss and Rory left. "Anyone else." They says and me and Rosie stand up. I look at her, confused and she smiles. Lilly stands up too.

"Yeh I need to see both Gale and Primrose." I say to them.

"I just want to see Prim." Lilly says.

"I want to see Gale but I want to go in with my brother." I look at Rosie and she smiles sadly again.

"Why?" I ask her.

"Because I've never done anything like this before, I don't want to go alone." She says. I smile and take her hand in mine.

"Okay if you will all follow me." The peackeeper says and he takes us down the hall and down to the end of the next hall. He stops between two doors. "Primrose." He points to one of the doors. "And Gale." He points to the other one. "You all have 3 minutes."

I stand outside Gales door and wait for them to open it. When the door is open, I step inside. Gale is sitting in the only chair with his head in his hands. When he looks up he has tears in his eyes. "Peeta!" He breathes out and walks over to hug me. "Im glad you came! I really need to talk to you!" He says pulling away from me.

"Go on." I say.

"I'm really sorry that I shut you out of my life." His face holds nothing but tears and sorrow. He really is guilty about it.

"It's fine." I say trying to reassure him because really I don't care. I still got to talk to him and that's all that mattered.

"No seriously, I'm sorry. I never told Katniss about you and I regret that. You where always my best friend but I was blinded by my love for Katniss that I forgot about that." He says. He's grabbed hold of my shoulders now as if he's trying to get it into my head that he's sorry, even though he doesn't really have anything to be sorry for.

"No really it's - wait... You're in love with ... Katniss?" It takes me off guard but I don't think he would say it if it wasn't true. Especially not now.

"Yeh I have been for 4 years now." That's as long as he's known her. I wonder if he ever told her.

"Really?" I ask. My mouth hangs open in shock as he lets my shoulders go.

"Yeh why is that so surprising?" He asks.

"Because I've been in love with her for about 11 years. Since the first day of school." I admit. This takes him by surprise.

"Wow! Why haven't you said anything to her, or even me." He asks.

"Because I was too scared." I look down at my shoes.

"What about now?" I hear him say and I look back up to him.

"I'm still too scared." I say into his face.

"Well I've just told her an I suggest you do too." He says. He's just told her that he loves her and he expects me to do the same. I don't think Katniss would take that nicely.

"What? I can't compete with that! I can't tell her I love her after you have. She doesn't even know me. I can see the way she looks at you, there's definitely something there." I say too quickly.

"Peet! I'm not going to make it out of this now I want you to promise me that you will look after her for me?" The thought of him not coming home brings tears to my eyes. I told myself I could handle it but right now I don't think I can.

"Of course I will." I throw my arms around him and hug him. One arm around his waist and the other over his shoulder. I don't even give him a pat on the back like most men's hugs are these days, I just hug him properly. This could be the last time I see him. "Anyway Rosie wants to talk to you." I say pulling away.

Rosie steps forward and I step back. "I just wanted to say that ever since I was 9, I loved you but I never told you because I didn't see you very much and I understand that you want Prim to one out of this do I just have to do one last thing in case this is my last chance to do it..." He is about to say something but Rosie jumps forward and kisses him. At first he's surprised and then he melts into the kiss and wraps his arms around her. I see his hands go down her waist and I'm about to tell him to watch where he puts them hands but then I remember where he is going after this and I stop myself.

Eventually he pulls away and looks at Rosie "Oh Rosie... I was in love with you too since I was 7 and you where 5. I thought the feeling had gone when I started falling for Katnuss but you just made me realise that it never went away. I love you Rosie." He smiles at her.

"I love you too Gale." Rosie says and kisses him again.

The door opens behind me and I turn around to see a peackeeper, he grabs me by the arm and another one comes in and grabs Rosie. "Times up!"

"Good luck Gale!" I shout to him as I'm dragged out.

"Don't forget to talk to her!" He replies just before the door closes.

When the door shuts, the peackeepers escort us back into the waiting room. I have tears rolling down my face and Rosie is latched onto my side as if her life depended on it. Lilly leaves on our way there and me and Rosie walk back into the room where mum and dad are sitting.

"How was it?" Mum asks, standing up.

"How do you think it was?" I ask and look up. She sees the tears in my face and I see her face drop even farther. Dad stands up next to her. We walk over to them and mum wraps her arms around me. Rosie moves away from me and falls into Dad's arms, crying. I'm pulled away from mum by a peackeeper. "I believe you wanted to see Miss Everdeen." He says to me and I nod. "Follow me." I walk back down the hall but walk in the other door. Prim is curled up in a ball on the chair, crying. "Prim?" I ask. She looks up and turns towards me, standing to her feet and walking over to me.

"Peeta, I was hoping you would come." She says, stopping infront of me.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because I need to talk to you." She says. She wipes a couple of stray tears from her face and looks back at me.

"You can talk to me about anything Prim." I say with a smile.

"You have to talk to Katniss." Somehow I knew that was going to come up as soon as I walked in the door.

"I'm going to." I say. It's the truth. I've promised too many people that I will talk to her.

"Good because this past week since you two started talking, she has been happier than normal." She says.

"Really? I didn't know that." She has been acting the same to me.

"Well you don't know what she was like before." She says. I do now what she was like before but I know we only have a couple minutes and there's some things I want to say.

"No fair enough."

"I want you to look after her unless Gale comes home." She says to me. Tears start to fall from my eyes again.

"Prim, Gale doesn't want to come home, he wants you to." I say to her. She must have realised this.

"I thought he would do that." She says, shaking her head.

"You have to come home Prim... For Katniss." I say to her.

"Peeta you know that's going to be really hard." She says. There's probably nothing harder than winning the hunger games but with Gales help she probably could come home.

"I know that but Katniss needs you. She has been taking care of you for 4 years, she will be broken without you." I say matter-of-factly.

"I know! That's where you have to fill in for me and gale, talk to her, tell her how you feel, she needs to know, she will be able to heal. You make her happier Peeta. Either way she is going to lose her sister or her best friend and I know it's going to tear her apart inside." She says. I know that it probably will tear her apart to see one of them die, they are the most important people in her life and there is a good chance that she could lose them both.

"Yeh it is. That's why you need to come home Prim. gale is my oldest friend and I don't want him to die at all but every second I watch them games I will be rooting for you to come home... I brought you something. I bought it ages ago and I was going to give it to Katniss as her token if she was ever picked but I want you to take it and promise to wear it." I take the box out of my pocket and open it to reveal a necklace. It's a gold chain that fits easily over your head and has a gold plate thing at the bottom that has 4 words on it. 'Be strong, be fast.' I take it out the box and place it over her head for her.

She looks down at the necklace and smiles. "Thanks Peeta! Look after my sister!" A peackeepers comes in and grabs me by the arms.

"I will!" I choke through the tears before the door shuts once again.

When I get back to the waiting room, mum and dad are still here with Rosie. "We couldn't leave without saying goodbye to you." Mum says and I walk over and wrap my arms around her.

"I love you." I choke out.

"I love you too Peeta." She replies.

I pull away from her and move onto my dad. He looks at me and I throw my arms around him. "Look after her." I say in his ear.

"I will son." He says to me. I pull away from him and Rosie takes my hand. I squeeze it tight as if she's about to be pulled away from me. "Bye kids." Dad says and him and mum walk down the hallway.

"Come on let's get home. I'll make you a cup of tea and you can paint if you want." She says to me and drags me out the room. When we leave the door I catch a glance at Gale and Prim being escorted out of their goodbye rooms and round the corner.

Rosie drags me out of the justice building but I stamp my feet on the floor and she let's go of me. "What's wrong?" She asks me. My head's just decided to start spinning as we got outside.

"I need to sit down." I say to her and she pulls me over to the front of the stage and I take a seat. Looking out over an empty square. A couple people still remain, like the Mellarks who are probably waiting for us. I look over the place where, just half an hour ago an emotional incident took place.

"So what did Prim say to you?" Rosie asks me.

"The same Gale did. To talk to her."

"That's 3 now Peeta, you have to talk to her."

"I know." I say quietly.

"You can't sit here!" I hear someone bark and I look up to see a peackeeper standing infront of us with his gun aimed at me.

"Sorry." I say and walk to the steps. I walk down and the Mellarks walk over to us.

"Are you alright Peeta?" Rye asks.

"Not even one little bit." I reply. He pats me on the back.

"I know... I know how it feels." Rye says.

"That's two years in a row now. My girlfriend and my best friend. I wouldn't be surprised if I go in next year." I say.

"Don't worry, next year will be fine." Chris says.

Suddenly the sky cracks with thunder. The rain starts and I just stand there letting it drench me from head to toe.

"Come on, we should get home..." Rosie says, grabbing my arm.

"No!" I pull away from her. "I don't want to go back home." I say harshly. I still have tears rolling down my face and the rain is now getting under my clothes but the last place I want to go is home.

I just want it to be last night when everything was alright and everyone was having fun. Prim and Gale where both at my party and Katniss was happy. Now everything has changed.

"You need to go home. You're soaked!" Rosie says.

"No Rosie! You go home!" I push her away from me and run through the square, past the bakery into town.

I don't really know where I'm going but my feet take me somewhere. I just wish that no one could volunteer and I was on the train to the Capitol right now. I don't even care that Katniss would be with me. I would die in them games so that she would come home and maybe that would be best for everyone. Nobody really needs me. Mum lives in the Capitol and doesn't see me anyway. Dad spends all his time going on walks and Rosie spends all her time with her friends. Nobody will miss me.

The sun is still high in the sky and I notice people in windows opening their shops with smiles on their faces. Their children aren't going to the Capitol and they are happy about that. They should be it's great. I just wish that I would catch a break and not have anyone I care about go to them stupid games that the Capitol call entertainment.

The streets of town are full as people run around getting some last minute food for dinner. I don't recognise most of the people and frankly I don't even care about them and if I know them or not, I just keep my head down and keep walking.

"Hey!" I hear from behind me. I ignore it and carry on walking. I don't recognise the voice at all. Maybe they weren't shouting to me. "Hey!" This time it's closer. I give up and turn around. I can see someone running through the rain to me. He's taller than me and has black hair and grey eyes. Obviously from the seam. "You're Peeta?" He asks when he finally makes it to me. I nod. "I'm Thom, Thom Cross. Gale's friend." He introduces himself.

"Is there a reason you're talking to me because I was kind of walking." I know I'm being rude but I just want to be alone at the moment.

"Yeh I'm really sorry but I just thought that you would like to know that Gale was very fond of you. He only told me about you once but he said that you where the best friend he ever had." He says.

"Thanks." I say. "How do you know him?" I ask.

"I'm in his class at school. I've been friends with him for 7 years. We where both going to start work in the mines in a couple of months." He looks down at his shoes.

"Well I've got to go but I'll talk to you some other time." I say and turn around.

"Bye Peeta! See you round." He shouts after me.

"You too." I reply and carry on walking.

Eventually my feet take me to their destination. The one place I don't want to be. Home. At the bottoms of the steps I turn towards the gates. All I can see is Katniss, Prim, Gale, Rory and Evelyn all so happy and walking towards my house for a party. Instead it's just Katniss walking towards me with a game bag in her hands. Through the cold air I can hear her sobbing. I open my door and disappear into it before she gets a chance to talk to me. I really don't want to talk to her at the moment. I promised I would but not now. I'm probably the last person she wants to talk to.

"Katniss is coming!" I shout through the house. "I'm not here! Money is in the jar." I walk up the stairs and disappear into my study.

I pick up a canvas and a paintbrush and begin my next piece of art. A little girl that everyone knows called Primrose Everdeen.

By the time I finish it's, 9:24pm. The painting is of Prim, laughing last night with a glass of orange juice in her hand.

Only one thought enters my mind. A plan that I need to carry out tonight. It could be risky but I need to do it. I promised. I grab my jacket off a stool in the corner and walk out my study. I walk down the stairs and Rosie is standing in the hallway on the phone. Probably talking to Delly.

"He's here now. Rye wants to talk to you." I guess I was wrong about Delly.

"Not now." I say and try to walk to the door but she grabs my arm.

"One minute Rye." She pulls her head away from the phone. "Where do you think you are going? You missed the recap of the reapings." She says.

"I don't care if I missed the recaps and I'm going to talk to Katniss." I say pulling my arm away from her.

"You can't do that now!" She hisses.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because she has been through a lot today." She says. That's true but somehow I believe that maybe I could make her feel atleast a little bit better.

"I know and I'm gonna talk to her." I say to her. Her face drops and she narrows her eyes at me.

"Whatever do what you want." She says and goes back to the phone, telling Rye how much of an idiot I am.

I throw my arms up in annoyance and leave through the door, slamming it behind me. If she doesn't trust me then I don't care. I am going to do this with or without her approval.

I don't even understand her anymore. When we where younger all she ever wanted to do was spend time with me, her older brother but now she's off all the time spending time with her friends which used to be my friends. I'm not saying she's stealing my friends away from me but it used to be me they invited out all the time and now it's her. I only get to see them at school now. I love the fact that Rosie has friends here because when we where younger she only had me. It's been a while since it's just been me and her doing something. Maybe I could invite her out somewhere, just the two of us. I hope she would like that. It surprises me how quickly anger goes away. A few minutes ago I hated my sister but now I realise, how could anyone hate their sibling, especially in this world where you could lose them anytime and one that you don't see very often.

The road to the seam is empty and it's still raining. I walk as fast as my feet will carry me which isn't very fast. I think I'm tired out from the whole day because when I walk into the seam, most of the lights in the houses are off and people are going to bed. Hopefully Katniss couldn't find sleep tonight and I have a chance of talking to her.

When I reach her street, there isn't a noise to be heard anywhere other than the rain that pelts down from the sky like it's trying to flood us. There are puddles everywhere and I gave up trying to dodge them an hour ago. Katniss' house comes into view and I can see her sitting on her front doorstep. I can't hear her but I'm almost sure that she's crying. She's wrapped in a blanket that sticks to her from the rain and her hair is down. I can't see anything else, her whole body is curled up under the blanket and she's leaning against the door.

"Katniss." I say, not thinking she would be able to hear it but she looks up and around. When her eyes meet mine, she stands up and turns around to open her door. "No wait!" I shout, hoping that she will stop but it just makes her go faster. The door is open and she disappears through it.

I carry on running towards her door and when I reach it I try the door knob but it's locked. "Katniss! I know you're there let me in." I shout through the door.

"What do you want?" I hear her shout back. I can hear the tears in her voice.

"I want to talk to you." All I hear is silence. "Please?"

"No Peeta! Go away!" She's silent for a minute. "I don't want to talk to anyone please just go away." I hear a noise on the other side of the door, almost sounds like she's sliding down the door.

"This is important." I shout back. I fall down and kneel on the front step in a newly formed puddle.

"Please just leave me alone..." I can hear her sobbing.

"Katniss... Please..." I say.

"No Peeta..." She replies.

I take a chance. "Okay fine but you should know that I promised someone very important to you that I would do this and damn it Katniss I am going to do it." I say and stand up straight again.

"Wait a second..." She says and I can hear the sliding sound again and a key in a lock and the door opens.

I'm stood there and she's stood there and we aren't talking. I'm being drenched from head to toe and she's standing in the dry house with tears streaming down her face. "What do you want Peeta?" She asks me.

"I need to tell you something!" I announce.

"What?" She asks. I'm silent. "Peeta what do you want to say?"

"I... I love you..." There I said it.

"What?"

"You heard me..." I say. I'm not sure I could say it again until I know how she reacts.

"Is this a joke?" I crease my eyebrows in confusion and shake me head. "Is this just some sick joke that you and Gale had planned?" She's shouting now. "It is isn't it? I knew it. You two never even liked me one bit. You where just messing with me. You had this planned from the start. Become friends with the lonely girl who has no friends so that you can mess with her heart. I've never been more insulted in my life... The last thing Gale said to me was that he loved me and now you show up on my doorstep saying the same thing! That's just sick!" She's looks at the point of breaking and all I want to do is hug her but the rage that I've been holding in all day just seems to come out now of all times.

"Gale is meant to be your best friend, he never lied to you and he never wanted to!" I shout to her. I'm about to carry on but she grabs hold of the edge of the door and slams it closed. I realise just at the last minute that I'm standing right at the door and I close my eyes, ready for the pain.

The door strikes my nose and I feel something crack. I let out a painful cry and fall back from the door. I expect Katniss to come outside but she doesn't. I hear the door lock and that's it, she's gone.

Instead of trying again, I walk home. With blood and rain running down my face, I walk back through the winding streets and alleyways into the Victors Village.

I slide my key into the lock and open the front door. The house is cold and quiet. Rosie must have gone to bed. I shut the door and drop my key into the little bowl. I peel off my blood and rain soaked jacket and drop it by the door.

Walking into the kitchen, I grab a left over bottle of whiskey from last night and pop the cap off and start to drink from it. I take a seat at my usual place at the small round kitchen table. My nose has stopped bleeding now but I can easily tell that it's broken.

I can't believe Katniss would think that neither me or Gale like her. That's just crazy. Does she not realise how perfect she is. I remember the little confident girl that showed up on the first day of school and sang The Valley Song in front of everyone. The moment I fell in love with her and the moment I knew that I would never love anyone else the way I love her. I can't even remember a time when I didn't love the Girl From The Seam. I would always call her that to my friends when we where younger because I never wanted them to know who she was. I knew from the first time I saw her that I was going to be forever wed to her. She is to perfect to not fall in love. Our wedding day would he perfect. A toasting between me and her, my family and her family there. We would spend the night together talking and laughing and kissing and when we went to bed we would hopefully make love for the first time and it would be the greatest moment in my whole life. Then a couple years later we would have a little girl with black hair and grey eyes that is the spitting image of Katniss and is just like her. Then we would have another little girl with blonde hair and grey eyes who would love baking and painting. In the morning, me and Katniss would wake up and our two beauties would run in and start jumping on the bed. I couldn't imagine my future any different until I met Poppy and Katniss still came into it as the babies aunt or god mother or something like that. I couldn't ever imagine my life without her, but right now in this darkness, with a whiskey and a broken nose. I'm imagining hundreds of different possibilities of my life without her. Most of them causing me to turn into my father and some of them causing me to die in the hunger games. A couple of them I meet a beautiful woman later in life and I forget all about Katniss until a couple years later when I get the news that she has got married to someone else from the seam. But the future with Katniss is still holding on and isn't gone just yet. Our two little beautiful daughters could still happen.

"What are you doing up?" I hear from the doorway. I spin around and see Rosie, wrapped in a green and black blanket that dad bought her about 12 years ago. She switches on the light and I shut my eyes. I've been sitting in the dark long enough that my eyes have adjusted to it. I hear Rosie let out a shocked breath. I open my eyes into slits to see her standing closer with her mouth wide open. "What the hell happened to you?" She asks, walking over and attempting to prod at my nose with her fingers.

"Nothing..." I say. I don't want to go into the whole story and frankly I'm too tired.

"I think it's broken." She says. "Come on let's get it fixed up." I leave my half full bottle of whiskey on the table and walk with her to the tap.

She uses a sponge to wipe away all the blood on my face. Then I have to strip off my shirt so that she can throw it in the wash and she can wash my neck. My hair has some in it too but I can wash that out in the shower in the morning. I catch sight of the clock whilst she's washing my neck. 2:34am. How long was I down here?

"This May hurt a little." She says. I'm about to ask her, what is meant to hurt until I find out. She grab my nose and clicks it back into place. Pain shoots through my skull and blood starts pouring from my nose again. She puts the sponge under my nose in an attempt to catch all the blood. "Stick your head back and pinch your nose." She says and I do. I can feel myself falling asleep as the blood slows down to a stop.

"Right I think I'm done." Rosie says to me. She drops the sponge into the sink and throws my top into the washing basket. "You need to get to bed." She says.

"Who appointed you in charge?" I ask with a smile. Trying to lighten the mood.

"Well when you become fit enough to be in charge then you can take over again but right now you are not allowed to be in charge." I laugh at her but stop because I have a headache and it hurts. "Come on." She says and leads me upstairs and into my room. "You need to get changed and get in bed. I'll see you in the morning." She says and leaves.

I get changed and climb into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

_I'm running through a forest. A never ending forest. Trees of all kinds even some that I've never seen in person like Palm trees. I'm not quite sure why I'm running but my legs are taking me somewhere. I hear a snarl and turn around. Katniss is running towards me at full speed. _

_She runs very fast for a girl in a dream. Like every other dream where I'm running, I'm finding it extremely hard and in no time she catches up to me and pins me to the ground. "Oh Peeta... We never liked you..." She says with an evil smile. _

_"What do you mean we?" I ask in my dream voice that's all gargled like I'm underwater. _

_As answer to my question, Gale walks over behind Katniss with blood dripping from his head. He tilts his head slightly and I see a huge gaping hole in the top of his head. "You where always there so that we could mess with you. I can't believe you fell for it." Gale says. _

_"And now you're going to die." Katniss says. What happens next is so unexpected, even for a dream. _

_Katniss transforms into a mutt right before my very eyes. She still has the same grey eyes but now with sharp teeth and furry ears. She resembles a wolf but more human and a lot more hairy and a lot more scary. Her and Gale share a glance and then both laugh. Her teeth descend on me and I hear myself scream. _

I shoot up in my bed with sweat pouring down me. It was just a dream. My headache is still there and I'm feeling slightly hungover. I look at the clock. 4:59am. I only slept for 2 hours. I climb out of bed and run my hands through my hair. I take a few deep breathes before grabbing a clean pair of jeans and a clean top before walking to the bathroom at the end of the hall for a shower. Today is going to be a really long day.

* * *

**I'm going on holiday this week but I'll try and update whenever I can... Please leave a review I enjoy them so much!**

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	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**I DONT OWN ANYTHING! Except a couple names and plot changes!**

_Last time: I shoot up in my bed with sweat pouring down me. It was just a dream. My headache is still there and I'm feeling slightly hungover. I look at the clock. 4:59am. I only slept for 2 hours. I climb out of bed and run my hands through my hair. I take a few deep breathes before grabbing a clean pair of jeans and a clean top before walking to the bathroom at the end of the hall for a shower. Today is going to be a really long day._

* * *

As the morning goes by I develop a cough. It's a small cough at first but then it gets worse over the space of an hour. I'm cold all over and I can't stop sneezing, which is extremely painful.

From looking in a mirror, I notice that my nose is very swollen and bruises are spreading out from my nose to my ears, giving me what look like 2 black eyes that aren't far off from swollen shut. I think for a moment about going to see somebody about it but the only person that could do something about this is Mrs Everdeen and I can't go back to that house after what happened last night. Unless I went when Katniss wasn't there. But what if she asks what happened?

"Hi." I hear from behind me and spin around. Rosie is standing there in her pyjamas.

"Hey." I reply with the best smile I can muster.

Her face drops when she sees me. "Oh god, that's bad." She says walking over.

"I know." I agree with a nod.

"You should see someone about it?" She's now gently poking the skin around my nose.

I know what the answer will be but I decide to ask anyway. "Who?"

"Who else? Evelyn of course, there's no one better." I shake my head. "What's wrong with that?"

"I can't go back there after last night..." I say

"What happened last night, you never told me. I only found you sitting at the kitchen table drinking whiskey and you had a broken nose. Something must have happened." She asks.

"It's not important but I can't go back there." I say, waving it off. "Would you like some breakfast?" I ask with a fake smile.

"Yeh sure..." She sounds unsure but I just turn around and begin making pancakes.

My head is pounding and my nose feels like it's throbbing. If I don't see anyone about it then the pain is just going to get worse. I will be able to handle it but it might affect working at the bakery and going to school. Everyone's gonna watch me wherever I go and John won't want me working.

When the pancakes have finished, I pour a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice. I hand the milk to Rosie and place the plate down infront of her. I take my place next to her and eat my food.

As I sit there, quietly eating my food and trying to ignore Rosie's watchful eye, I think about last night. I always had a lot of theories about how Katniss would have reacted when I told her I loved her, but never would I have guessed that she would accuse me of messing with her and then proceed to slam the door in my face and break my nose. I don't know if she realised she broke my nose, I'm sure she will find out at school though. She must have heard my howl of pain when my nose snapped but she probably thought it was nothing. Rosie was right, I should have told her a week ago, she might have taken it better.

"So how are you this morning?" Rosie asks, breaking me out of my thoughts. Her arms are folded on the table and her eyes are staring right at me.

"Honestly Rosie, I've been better..." I reply, truthfully. "What about you?" I wasn't the only one who lost someone yesterday, so it seems.

She waves it off as if it's nothing, "Me? I'm fine!" She gives me what I'm guessing is a fake smile. "Us Capitol people are strong as hell!" I let out a little chuckle.

"Isn't it supposed to be, district 12 are as strong as hell?" I ask. "Because technically I'm from the Capitol too and I don't feel very strong right now..." Her smile fades and she looks at me. Dad says we where born in the Capitol and then mum hid us on the train to district 12 so that we could have a 'normal life'.

"Yeh I guess you're right." She looks back down at her food, only for a second before looking back up to me with tears already forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what." I ask.

"Everything." She replies. The tears now finding their way down her face, she doesn't bother to wipe then away and I see them fall into the table out of the corner of my eye. "Everything that I ever did to you or made you feel."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, you didn't cause any of this." I say, trying to make her feel better.

"Yes I do. I'm sorry about not being around that much this week and I'm sorry for deciding to go to the Capitol when I was 5 and sorry for leaving you and I'm sorry for... Everything..." She's fully crying now. "You're my brother and best friend, I don't even know what I would do without you looking out for me and I never want to lose you." She looks back down at her empty plate and plays with her glass.

"Hey Rosie?" I say, reaching forward and placing my hand on top of hers. She looks up to me. Her face now red and wet from the tears. "I'm not going anywhere, ever!" I smile as much as I'm able to.

"Good." She knows that I can't keep that promise. She reaches forward and grabs my hand with her spare one. "Are you sure you want to go to school today?" She asks after a minute.

"Oh yeh, I don't care what people say." I reply even though I am quite scared about it but I need to go in. I also need to work at the bakery today, they always get a lot of customers the day after the games.

"Okay." She says and we fall back into silence.

At 8:02 Rosie runs upstairs to get dressed so that we can set off in 10 minutes. I take the plates over to the sink and wash them, leaving them on the draining board to dry. I'll probably sort it out after school.

Rosie comes down the stairs not looking like her usual self. She is wearing a big white and blue wooly jumper and some black skinny jeans. Finished off with big chunky boots. Her hair is not straight like it normally is, instead it's up in a ponytail and her face is clean if make up. She smiles sadly and shrugs her shoulders. I smile back.

I grab mine and Rosie's jackets off the hook near the door and hand hers over to her. We walk out into the cold morning air and I lock the door before we walk out the gates of the Victors Village.

There's a kind of happiness in the air in the seam today. Children are running around happily and parents are laughing for the first time in a year. They are happy that their kids aren't in the games this year. I don't blame them. I walk through the seam quickly and quietly with Rosie trying to keep up behind me. I pull up my hood as we walk into town and bow my head as far as I can. Rosie loops her arm around mine and flashes me a smile.

Not many people are in town. There's a few people walking into shops. I expected a lot more people out today. Everyone buying food for their dinner tonight or buying their kids presents or something like that but no there's hardly anyone.

We make it to school at 8:35, with 10 minutes to spare before class. It turns out that the hood didn't change anything because people are still staring at me. I reach my hands up and slide my hood down. Rosie takes my hand for support and we walk through the crowd to the doors of the school. I'm rather surprised when I walk through the doors to see as many people inside as there was outside, all staring at me. I duck my head again and turn right down a hallway.

I reach my door and the only person in is the teacher who waves me and Rosie in without even looking at us. "You're early." She says.

"Yeh, I didn't want to stand out there anymore so we came inside." Rosie replies to her.

At that moment she looks up and her eyes focus on me. Her mouth drops. "Mr Abernathy what happened to you?" She asks, standing up.

"It was just something last night.." I say, trying to look at my shoes but her stare is drawing my eyes back to hers.

"What happened where you attacked, do you need to see the nurse?" She asks.

"No I'm sure I'll be fine..." I try my best to smile.

"Are you sure because you can go home if you want, I'll just tell reception that I sent you home."

"No honestly it's fine, I'll just sit at the back with Rosie and learn." I say to her. She still seems unconvinced but surprisingly she let's it go.

"Okay well if there is any problems feel free to leave." She says with a smile.

"Thank you." I say and she walks away, sitting back behind her desk and sorting through papers. I take my normal seat at the back of the class with Rosie next to me.

"I'm sorry about your friend." She says, looking up briefly from her work. She gives me a sympathetic smile and I nod.

10 minutes later the bell rings throughout the school. Students walk into the room and take their seats. The class is almost full today, everyone is hear, except for ... Katniss. Her table is empty. "Well, I'm happy to see you all here with smiles on your faces, not on the way to the Capitol. Safe for another year. But I hope you all know that a couple students in this class lost someone important to them and I hope you will all give them your deepest sympathies. One of them people doesn't seem to be in today. Katniss Everdeen. When she does return to school, don't give her a hard time. But the other 2 however are here and I'm guessing are very broken up about it." A few heads towards me and Rosie and she grabs my hand under the table. It's her way of telling me that she's getting upset and she needs support. I squeeze her hand back and she turns to me with a smile on her face. She has tears in his eyes. "Now class don't stare at them. They've been through enough the past few days." Most of the heads turn back but Delly, River and Ria are still looking at me.

"What happened to you?" Delly asks me.

"I'll explain later..." I say and turn back to Rosie. She's still looking at me with tears in her eyes. "Do you want to leave?" I ask her. She slightly nods her head and I stick my free hand into the air.

"Yes Mr Abernathy?" The teacher says.

"Sorry can I just take Rosie outside for a minute?" I ask. She doesn't really need to look at Rosie to see what's wrong.

"Of course, just don't take too long." She says with a smile.

I slide my chair out from under the table as quietly as I can and Rosie copies. I pull her through the classroom and out the door, ignoring everyone's stares.

The hallway is empty and you can hear the sound of people in PE outside, doing laps around the school.

"Are you okay?" I ask her and she bursts into tears.

"No, I'm anything but okay. Gale and Prim are in the Games and everyone in that God damn classroom are smiling. I can't sit around pretending everything is okay when it isn't!" She shouts at me. I let a single tear fall from my eye.

She leans forward and leans her forehead against my chest. I wrap my arms around her and she does the same.

"I know that's it's not okay more than anyone and I'll always be here for you." I say to her. "Do you want to go home?"

"No I just don't want to go back into that classroom..." She replies. Who am I kidding, I can't go back in there either. All them people smiling was just boiling my blood. Sometimes I wish that I didn't have hot headedness like my father but that's something I can't change.

"Me either. I think we should go home or to the bakery or somewhere that's not here." I say.

"Yeh that sounds good." She says. I just need to talk to my teacher now.

I pull away from Rosie and wipe away as many tears from my face as I can. I open the door and it creaks, making everyone look at me, even the teacher. "Miss, is that invitation to go home still available?" She probably notices the tears on my face as she answers.

"Of course, is it both of you?" She asks.

"Yes miss." I reply. She nods and writes something down on a piece of paper laying on her desk.

"Okay, you can go." She says. "My deepest sympathies to both of you." She smiles sadly. I turn to Delly and smile before leaving the room and following Rosie down the hall to the doors.

The rain has started again as we walk out the door. The streets outside school are empty and all I can think about is how odd it is to be walking around whilst school is open. I'm always in school at this point I hardly ever miss school and if I do, I normally stay home or at the bakery.

The last time I left school early was 3 years ago when I was 13. The night before, I had knocked over one of the crates full of dad's whiskey and he had got really mad and punched me in the eye. I had a black eye and everyone was watching me. I had got so annoyed that I remember shouting at the teacher and storming out of school. When I got home dad apologised for it and left the house. I forgave him for it later that night when I realised that he is the only family I have most of the time. I had called Rosie when I got home and told her about it. She seemed really angry about it and I still don't think she has forgiven him for it.

"Do you wanna go straight home or do you want to do something?" Rosie asks me, when we just make it into the town square.

"Erm..." I think about it for a minute before I come up with my answer. "Actually I think I might go to the bakery, working takes my mind off thing..." I say to her. "You can go home though if you want."

"Okay well I'll see you at Dinner then?" She asks.

"Yeh of course... I'll see you later." I hug her and she walks off, lacking the normal skip in her step.

I walk into the bakery and Chris is standing at the counter. "Oh god, what the hell happened to you?" His mouth hangs open.

"Nothing I'm fine." I say.

"You're obviously not fine, have you seen your face today?" He asks.

"Yes I have, can we talk about something else please?" I say a little too harshly.

"Erm... What are you doing here?"

"Me and Rosie couldn't deal with school today... Too many happy faces so she went home and I came here... I hope you don't mind me starting work early?" I say, taking off my coat and shaking the rain from my hair.

"No of course not but you might want to get dried up first, you can change into some of Ryes clothes if you want." He says and I nod.

In the back, John is sitting on one of the sofas with Evelyn. "Hello?" I ask and the both turn around to me. Evelyn gasps and Johns eyes grow wide. "Yeh I know, I look horrible, I get it!" I say, harshly.

"What happened to you?" Evelyn asks.

"This would be the work of your daughter..." I reply.

"How?" Her mouth is still hanging open whilst she talks to me. "Wait... Was it you at our house last night?" I nod. "I thought so... Did she punch you?"

"No she slammed the door in my face, she doesn't know that it cause this though and I'd like it if you didn't tell her please?" I ask.

"Sure but do you want me to help you with it?" She asks me.

"No, Rosie already snapped it back into place, I just have to wait for the swelling and bruises to go down."

"Okay well if you have any problems with it, you can come to me." I nod and leave the room.

I find myself wondering why she is here but she's been here a lot since Mrs Mellark died. Maybe she is just keeping John company.

I walk upstairs and into Rye and Chris' room. It used to belong to all the Mellark children when Poppy was alive and I haven't been in this room since she was alive. We would sit in here at night before everyone came to bed and just talk about stuff. When dad was in the Capitol and we had to stay here, me and Poppy would stay up here until Rye, Chris and Rosie came to bed. And even then we would be whispering to each other. Even when we where friends. She was funny and when I wasn't hanging around with Delly or Rye I would be sitting with her. Rosie would spend a lot of time with Rye at the bakery though and Chris would be working so I spent time with Poppy. Mine and Rosie's mattress had been placed in the middle of their bedroom, there wasn't any room to walk around whilst our mattress was there but it was still a lot of fun. My side of the mattress was right next to Poppy so we would whisper to each other all the time.

The room seems so open now. Poppy's mattress has been propped up against a wall to give them more space and her stuff has been moved into the bottom of the wardrobe. None of them actually wanted to throw any of the stuff away. They asked me if I wanted to take some of it but I said no so they just placed it all in the bottom of the wardrobe.

I take a seat on the floor, leaning against her matress and bring my knees up to my chest. I look up at the ceiling, "I miss you Poppy." I whisper as quietly as I can, as if Rye, Chris and Rosie are sleeping on their mattress' and me and Poppy are just talking like we used to. "If I had you with me, I wouldn't have to worry about any of this crap... I wouldn't have to tell Katniss because I would have you and that's all I need right now." I realised about a year ago that the only person that could make me feel better in hard times was Poppy. Now that's she's gone, everything is hard because nobody is there to make me feel better. Rosie does sometimes but the sadness comes back in a couple of hours.

"PEETA ARE YOU DONE YET?!" I hear Chris shout from downstairs.

"YEH GIVE ME A MINUTE!" I shout back, wiping tears from my eyes and standing up.

I grab a plain black shirt and some jeans out of Ryes drawers and pull on my shoes again, leaving my clothes in their washing basket. I'll get them some other time. I run downstairs and pull on my apron. Chris says that I can work in the kitchen today so that nobody sees my face which I'm glad about because I can't stand anybody else asking questions.

After that we have a very busy day, everyone seems to want baked goods today, I'm working non stop all day. Except for lunch, today I only get 20 minutes instead of my usual 45 but it's enough time to eat my food so I don't mind as much.

At around 3:45, Rye comes home. "Hey I heard that you left school early today?" He asks, putting his apron on and checking the cookies in the oven. Without looking at me once.

"Yeh, I couldn't stand seeing all them happy faces." I reply.

"Yeh I understand, I felt the same last year." He pulls his head out of the oven with the tray of cookies, when he turns toward me, he jumps and the cookies fly everywhere, I can't help but let out a little laugh. "Wow! What the hell happened to you? You look terrible."

"Yeh I know, my nose is bruised and swollen can we just drop it?" I ask getting slightly annoyed.

"It's not just that." I turn towards him and he's placing the tray back down. "You look... Like you haven't slept in a week and you're... You're hunched over like your back is hurting, are you okay?" I hadn't realised that I was hunched over but now that I think about it my back is slightly aching but it's not hurting enough to be hunched over.

"Yeh I'm fine, can we just get back to work? There is a lot going on today." I ask and he nods

At 5:00 we close up. I leave the kitchen a mess and plan to tidy it up later. At the moment all I need to do is sit down. Me and rye walk into the sitting room and both collapse on the sofas across from John and Evelyn. Chris is still in the front of the shop cleaning up.

"Busy day huh?" Evelyn asks.

"Yeh." I reply.

"Well I better be going, Katniss would have already gone hunting I should be there when she gets back." She says standing up.

"Okay well you can come back any time you want." John tells her.

"What about tomorrow?"

"Perfect." John says with a smile.

Evelyn leaves and we all fall into silence again. It's a good silence because I'm really tired at the moment so I lean my head back on the sofa and let myself drift off to sleep.

I'm woken up by Chris. I look towards the clock, it's 7:39pm, I promised Rosie I would be back in time for dinner. I also still need to clean the kitchen. Once I'm awake fully, Chris leaves the room. To clean the kitchen I presume. I stand up to go and help him when I'm stopped by a knock on the door. I think about answering it but then Rye stands up. "You clean the kitchen, I'll get the door." I nod in agreement and walk to the kitchen.

Chris isn't in the kitchen, I have no idea where he is. I walk back out of the kitchen to see if he is around and I see Rye at the door. "Do you know where Chris is? He's meant to be helping me..." I catch sight of someone else standing there, I don't know why I didn't expect it because she almost always comes by at this time. Katniss is standing there with her game bag in her hand. Her face is easy to read, guilt, regret, sympathy. Her eyes are wide and her mouth hangs open.

"Did I do that?" She asks, looking at my face. I nod in agreement. "It's not like it was my fault." She says after a few seconds.

Just that one simple sentence has suddenly made me really angry. Why would she say that it wasn't her fault? Doors don't move on their own. "Excuse me!" I say loudly, stepping forward a little bit.

"I said it wasn't my fault." She says louder than last time. She's stepping towards me now.

"What? So the door just hit me in the face and broke my nose by itself?" I shout, the anger still pouring out of me.

"NO! IM NOT SAYING THAT, IM SAYING THAT YOU DESERVED IT!" She shouts back. I can feel the heat running down my arms towards my hands. I close my fingers into a fist.

"FOR WHAT? FOR TELLING YOU HOW I FEEL!" I bark at her. I catch sight of Rye for a split second and see him standing there with his mouth open and confusion written all over his face.

"NO FOR LYING TO ME AND MESSING WITH ME! YOU KNOW WHAT PEETA? THERES A STORY BEHIND EVERY PERSON! A REASON THEY ARE THE WAY THAT THEY ARE! WHY DONT YOU THINK ABOUT THAT BEFORE YOU JUDGE SOMEONE?" She's standing in front of me now, screaming in my face. John and Chris have walked into the room and are standing with Rye looking as confused as he is. "IF FOR SOME TWISTED REASON, YOU AND GALE THOUGHT THAT MESSING WITH ME WOULD SOMEHOW MAKE ME WEAKER THEN YOU WHERE MISTAKEN! IT MADE ME A STRONGER PERSON!"

"I DONT CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY. I SAID WHAT I SAID AND I MEANT IT. IVE BEEN THROUGH A LOT IN MY LIFETIME AND DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD WASTE MY TIME MESSING WITH SOMEONE WHEN I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO THINK ABOUT! MANY THINGS ARENT EQUAL IN THIS WORLD BUT EVERYONE GETS THE SAME 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK. HERE IN DISTRICT 12, NO MATTER WHAT PART OF IT YOU ARE FROM, THE SEAM, TOWN OR THE VICTORS VILLAGE, WE ALL MAKE TIME FOR WHAT WE TRULY WANT! IF WE DONT WANT IT THEN ITS JUST A WASTE OF TIME!" I say in reply. She wants shouting, she'll get shouting.

Her face turns colder, "SEE THAT DOESNT HELP BECAUSE NOW IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU WANTED TO MESS WITH ME!" She pokes me really hard in the chest and I rub it a little, that's probably going to leave a mark.

"NO! JESUS KATNISS! I'M TRYING TO TELL YOU THAT I WAS TELLING YOU THE TRUTH AND SO WAS GALE! CANT YOU SEE THAT?" Her face drops a little bit and she stares at me.

"What?" She asks quieter.

I grab her by the shoulders and shake her violently, "GOD DAMIT KATNISS! I LOVE YOU! IVE LOVED YOU FOR MOST OF MY LIFE, I LOVE YOU NOW AND ILL PROBABLY LOVE YOU FOREVER..."

I see a couple tears fall from her eyes, down her face and drop off the e nd of her chin. Her face turns cold again and she pulls away from me. "ITS TOO BAD I DONT BELIEVE YOU THEN!" She spins around and storms out.

I shake my head in disbelief and start to run for the door, "KATNISS WAIT!" Rye catches my arm and holds me back, I try to fight against him but it's no use. I'm normally stronger than him but right now I'm not strong at all.

"Stop it! You'll only make it worse!" Rye shouts pushing me back.

I turn towards everyone else, with tears in my eyes and yell, "SEE THATS WHAT I GET FOR TELLING THE TRUTH!" I turn around and go back to the kitchen, slamming the door on the way in. I turn towards a wall and punch it as hard as I can to try and get all the anger out. It doesn't work and my head is still full of rage. I lean down and place my elbows on the counter top, placing my head in my hands and proceeding to scream.

(ROSIE POV)

I've had all the stuff out for dinner, for half an hour now, waiting for Peeta to get home. He's never normally late. Last year when I was here, he wasn't late once, he must be getting very involved with his work. He gets that rate from mum. Whilst I was in the capitol I was normally alone. Except from school or dinner time. The rest of the time, mum was working. I'm not quite sure what an escort can do when it's not Hunger Games season but she always had something to do. I've been told that dad isn't in to his work at all. He doesn't have an actual job but I suppose mentor counts. Mum told me that he doesn't do much for the tributes because he knows that there isn't much he can do. He just gets more drunk than usual.

I'm broken out of my thoughts by a knock at the door. I stand up from the kitchen table, leaving my glass of Orange juice on the table and walk to the door, I open it to see Katniss. She has tears in her eyes and is drenched from the rain. "Oh great Katniss, I need to ask you a question." I say. I've been wanted to ask her this all day but I haven't seen her until now.

"What's wrong?" She asks, even though it looks like I should be asking her that instead.

"Well it's about Peeta." Her face drops and I find myself wondering why but carry on speaking. "What happened to him last night I know you had something to do with it but he refuses to talk to me about it..."

"Why?" She asks, now looking up at me with narrowed eyes.

"Come in and we can talk about it, it's raining and you're soaked." I suggest, moving aside for her to step in.

"Okay thanks..." She steps over the threshold and I walk her to the kitchen. She takes a seat at the table and places her game bag down on it.

"I'll make us some drinks." I say and walk to the counter, turning the kettle on and making us some brews.

Once I am sitting at the table across from her and we both have our drinks, I tell her what happened last night. "So last night, I woke up late at night because I could hear a noise downstairs. I'd left my bedroom door open to wait for Peeta to get home so I could hear him. I listened until the noise stopped and when I didn't hear him come upstairs, I got worried and I went downstairs. He was sitting at the kitchen table with a half full bottle of whiskey infront of him. He'd already drunk half of it an you know how horrible that stuff is?" She nods. "He had blood in his hair, all over his face and down his shirt. He was drenched from head to toe. And through everything I could still see tears falling down his face. He was really depressed and had broken his nose somehow -" I'm cut off by Katniss.

"Wait! He was depressed?" She asks, warming. her hands up on the brew.

"Yes." I answer truthfully.

"How depressed?"

"Very, I haven't seen him that depressed since Poppy died and he drank a lot and I fear if I left him much longer he would have passed out from the alcohol and the blood! He didn't even care that he was covered in blood! You need to tell me what happened last night." I urge her. She just looks down at the table like I'm not even there.

A realisation look spreads across her face and her mouth hangs open, "I made a terrible mistake..." she says.

"Why?" Now I'm the one that's confused.

"Well last night Peeta came to my house to talk to me and I told him to go away and locked the door but he didn't leave. He told me that he promised someone important to me that he would do whatever it was and so I open the door and he told me that he loved me and I got angry at him and slammed the door in his face because I thought that he was messing with me because Gale has told me the exact same thing earlier in the day. I heard him scream but I didn't think I had broken his nose." Her face holds nothing but guilt.

"Katniss, Peeta is my twin brother and I've been in love with Gale for 7 years and I promise you, they where both telling the truth." I say with a smile

"You where in love with Gale? Why didn't he tell me?" She seems hurt.

"Because he didn't know, I told him at the goodbyes." I reply.

"Why didn't you tell him before that?" She asks.

"Because he was in love with you and I didn't want to mess that up." I tell her truthfully. It's true, I didn't see any future with me and Gale, whenever I pictured the future, Gale was with Katniss.

Her mouth hangs open in shock again. "I've made a terrible mistake, someone actually complimented me and I broke his nose, what kind of friend am I?" I reach across the table and pat her hands that remain around the cup. She looks up to me and she has one single tear rolling down her face.

"Trust me he will forgive you if you just talk to him." I say to her, trying to give her some reassurance. I know that Peeta will forgive her, how could he not.

She smiles for a second before her face turns serious again, "Not after the argument at the bakery." She says looking back down at the table. I keep my hands on hers and smile slightly.

"He will. He made a promise to 3 different people that he would talk to you." I say.

"Which people?" She looks back up to me, still with tears on her face.

"Well first he promised Poppy last year and yesterday he promised Gale and Prim that he would talk to you." I say.

Her face drops and more tears fall from her eyes, "Really? I made a horrible mistake didn't i. I've let my sister down, I've let my best friend down, I've let Peeta down and I've probably let you down..." She says. Why would she think she has let me down, I have nothing to do with all of this, I'm just stuck in the middle somehow.

"No you haven't let me down and I'm sure that Peeta will be fine soon and you haven't let Gale and Prim down. They made Peeta promised, you can't let anyone down." I say to her.

"I've let Peeta down..." She replies. That's probably true but I'm sure he will be fine once she explains everything to him.

"He will understand. Just talk to him..." I tell her. She looks up and smiles at me. "Right now we need to get you out of them wet clothes, you can wear something of mine." I pull my hands away from hers.

"No it's fine..." She says, waving it off.

"No really."

"I'm fine honestly."

"You're soaked." There probably isn't one part of her that isn't wet.

"Okay fine but I don't want clothes that you wear often, just something simple and old." She give in, I smile and nod.

"Okay you're a bit taller than me but I might have something, wait here." I leave the table and run upstairs, going into the spare room, where we all keep our old clothes. I grab a top and a jumper from the drawers not paying attention to who's they are. Then I grab a pair of jeans that mum bought me but where too long for my legs. Also i get some underwear from my room because I'm sure that her underwear is probably soaked too. I run back downstairs to find her still in the same position. "I found something that might fit you. I also got you some underwear." I say handing over the pile of clothes in my hands.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it..." She smiles and takes the pile off me.

"You can get changed in the bathroom down the hall if you want." I say and she nods.

She walks out the room and comes back 5 minutes later, holding the clothes she was wearing. "The jumpers too big but everything else fits perfectly." I look at it and realise that the jumper doesn't actually belong to me. She drops her clothes into the kitchen table.

I let out a small laugh. "Well the jumper is Peetas and the top and jeans are mine. Mum bought me some jeans a while back and they didn't fit me so I put them in the spare room."

"Will Peeta mind if I'm wearing his jumper?" She asks.

"No not at all." He doesn't wear it so she might as well have it. I was going to take Peeta's jumpers but I always forgot, I'll just look through the rest of them.

"Well I can bring them back to you tomorrow I'll get my mum to wash them and put them on the line tonight." She suggests.

"No it's fine, we don't wear them so you can keep them." I smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeh it's fine." I say and she smiles.

"Thank you." She replies. She buries her hands in the jumper and smells it. "It smells really nice."

"Really? It's been in that room for a couple months now I wouldn't think it would smell nice." I say, confused.

"Yeh it smells like bread, freshly cut grass and fresh air. I love the smell of all three." She smiles and buries her face in the jumper.

I smile. "All of Peetas clothes smell like that, he always smells like that even when he is fresh out the shower."

"Oh." She smiles. "It's nice." I nod in agreement.

"So why weren't you in school today?" I ask.

"Because I couldn't face it, all them kids happy because they weren't reaped and my sister now on the way to the Capitol." She says, the smile dropping from her face.

"I understand. Me and Peeta left, 10 minutes into first lesson because of that same reason." I reply.

"Yeh anyway I better get going because my mum will be wondering where I am."

"Okay." I say with a smile.

"Thank you for the clothes and for telling me the truth." She picks up her game bag and starts towards the door.

"Anytime." I say.

"Wait." She spins around in the doorway. "Did you want some fresh game?"

"No you can keep it it's fine, I've already got what we are making for dinner." She smiles and leaves.

(BACK TO PEETA)

By the time I've finished screaming and cleaned up the kitchen, it's 8:36pm and I'm physically and emotionally tired. All I want to do is sleep but I still need to get home and eat dinner then watch the tribute parade with Rosie. She's going to be so annoyed with me.

I haven't spoken to any of the Mellarks since Katniss was here, so when I walk out the kitchen, I feel 3 sets of eyes on me. "Are you okay now?" Rye asks me.

"No." I reply and walk out into the front of the shop. I grab my coat and walk through the back, ignoring their questions and straight out the back door into the cold night.

On the way home, I do a lot of thinking. I think about Katniss and I think about Rosie. I think about school tomorrow and for the rest of the week. I think of the games, I think of my parents. But most of all I think of Gale and Prim. I think back to what Evelyn said about her, Ash and Cole raising money for Haymitch and Maysilee, which causes me to think more. Maybe me and Rosie could do the same thing for Gale and Prim. I just need to find a way to get it to dad. Maybe I can ring him and ask him. I'll just have to ring Capitol Assistance.

When I get home, Rosie is standing in the kitchen. When I walk through the door she turns towards me. "Where the hell have you been?!" She shouts at me. "I've been worried sick!"

I sigh, more shouting. "I'm sorry, I got caught up at the bakery, it was an extremely busy day and I fell asleep afterwards then I had an argument with Katniss and I had to clean the kitchen." I rub my forehead. My head is pounding from all the thinking and shouting.

"Well you could have atleast called! I don't know what could have happened to you! You're never late!" She's still shouting at me.

"I'm sorry okay!" I shout back. "Now I've had a very long day and I just want to watch the parade and sleep!" I plop down on one of the chairs at the table and lean down, placing my head on the hard wood of the table.

"Are you okay?" She asks, her voice softer now.

"No." I say.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything." I hear her walk away, only to come back a couple minutes later and place something on the table right by my head. I look up to see a steaming hot brew infront of me. I smile as Rosie takes a seat across from me.

"Look I know it's hard right now but it will end." She says and looks at me. "I'm always here for you if you need to talk." I think about telling her but then realise that she probably wouldn't understand so I just shake me head and drink my brew.

After about 20 minutes of silence, I speak up. "I thought you would like to know that I have a good idea." I say to her.

"What idea?"

"Well I was thinking that we could start a stall in the hob to raise money for Gale and Prim whilst they are in the arena." I say. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea but why me?" She asks. "Why not Katniss or Rory?"

"Well I might talk to them about it." I know that I'm most likely not going to tell Katniss but Rosie doesn't know what happened with us. Rory though, I could talk to him about it, he could ask people whilst he is out doing his mother's rounds. "I might talk to the Mellarks about it too."

Later on I call Capitol Assistance. When they answer the phone, a really high pitched voice chokes through. "Hello, Capitol Assistance how many we help you?"

"I was wondering if it was possible to talk to Haymitch Abernathy?" I ask, messing with the phone wire. Rosie stands behind me, waiting for an answer.

"Which district is this?" It's a rather odd questions but I answer anyway.

"District 12."

"I'm sorry sir, we don't take calls from the outlying districts."

"Wait!" I shout before she hangs up. I knew this was somehow going to be an issue. "I'm Peeta Abernathy, Haymitch's son, it's urgent."

"I'm sorry sir, no exceptions." The line goes dead and I place the phone back on the receiver.

"We can try again tomorrow." I say, turning back around to Rosie.

"No I have an idea." She smiles and steps forward to the phone.

"What are you going to do?" I ask. She picks up the phone and types in a four digit number. "Message to Effie Trinket." I hear a faint beeping sound and Rosie begins to speak slowly. "It's Rosie go somewhere safe with Dad, wait for call." Then she puts the phone down and turns to me.

"Care to explain what that was all about?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, mum has this kind of mobile device and it has all her schedules on. She talked to someone and its now set up to receive messages from her home in the Capitol and all the phones in this house. It's so that I can get in touch with her if something goes wrong." She explains.

"So how are you going to ring her?" I ask.

"It takes calls too."

"Oh right so when can we call her?" I ask.

"In about 5 minutes, just wait for them to find a place where they aren't being watched." I nod and we wait.

5 minutes later, Rosie picks up the phone again and types in the same four digit number. "Call to Effie Trinket." She says. She plays with the wire for a couple seconds before she speaks again. "Hi Mum... yeh I know it's only for emergencies... Peeta needs to talk to Dad about something... He has an idea and needs to know if it will work... Thanks." She turns to me and hands me the phone. "Your turn."

"Hello?" I ask into the phone.

"Peeta it's Dad what's wrong?" I explain to him the whole idea and he falls silent for a minute. "Dad?"

"Yeh I'm thinking about it." He says. "I think it could work, I'm not sure how Evelyn pulled it off you should ask her, you could send it through the post but it doesn't get sent out very many times. The next time the post is being sent via train is a week from now, so all the money you get from now until then, you should send over. You also have to have a permit to send mail between districts. Every Victor already can without a permit but their children can't so if you talk to Mayor Undersee he can get you one."

"Thanks Dad." I say. "He can do it Rosie!" I say loudly. She cheers.

"Peeta, you must know that it's very risky. It's illegal to do this, it's very illegal to be talking on the phone right now, me and Effie had to come to the roof so we weren't heard. Don't mention to anyone that it's money that you are sending over. Not Mayor Undersee, not the Man who handles the Post and especially not anyone who can get in touch with the Capitol in anyway. Think about the consequences if this goes wrong." My face drops at the thought of what would happen.

"I understand." I say.

"Good, anyway we need to get going to watch the recap of the tribute parade and then get Prim and Gale to bed, you should go too." I think twice about asking him about Gale and Prim, we have already spent too long on the phone.

"Okay I'll get Rosie to send another message to mum when we are sending the money."

"Okay Peet bye." He hangs up.

15 minutes later, the recaps of the parade start. Me and Rosie sit on the sofa near the TV and wait for it to start.

"Welcome, I'm Caesar Flickerman reporting to you from the Capitol, today is a very special day, we all get to we the tributes for the first time. The Tribute Parade, it will be interesting to see what the Stylists have in store for us this year. Well let's get on with the show shall we? District 1... Wow, with the pink suits, they stick out." District 1 look ridiculous. They have really big hats on with feathers. "Here come district 2-" It goes on like this for about 5 more minutes until the district 12 chariot arrives. The whole crowd are on their feet and Caesar is momentarily stunned. Prim and Gale are... On fire. I gasp. They both look rather scared. The crowd is just chanting their names. "Well, Cinna and Portia, certainly have out done themselves this year." Ceased says.

All the chariot stop just infront of where the president stands on a balcony. As soon as the district 12 chariot stops, the fire goes out.

"Welcome Welcome." The president starts. "Tributes we welcome you. We salute your courage and your sacrifice." He smiles. "I would personally like to wish you Happy Hunger Games and May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour."

The district one chariot starts around the circle again and back down to the training centre. The rest follow behind and then just like that all the tributes are gone and Caesar starts speaking again. I pick up the remote and switch off the TV.

"I'm gonna go to bed." I say to Rosie. I'm way too tired to even think about staying awake.

"Yeh I'll be up soon I just have to put some clothes in the dryer." I'm surprised she knows how to use the washer or the dryer but I nod and walk upstairs, collapsing on my bed fully clothed and falling asleep.

* * *

**I thought this chapter was interesting, I hope you liked it, please review it helps me. **

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	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 **

**2 Chapter 7**

**I DONT OWN ANYTHING! Except a couple names and plot changes!**

_Last time: "Yeh I'll be up soon I just have to put some clothes in the dryer." I'm surprised she knows how to use the washer or the dryer but I nod and walk upstairs, collapsing on my bed fully clothed and falling asleep._

(HAYMITCH POV)

I never had anything to do with the children that I was mentoring and always new that one way or another they would both die. But this year, I know that I need to save them. If not for my son then for Ash and Cole. They might be dead but I know that they would want me to save their kids. However much I look at it, I have to find a way to save them. Hopefully both of them. I know it's probably impossible but there has to be a way. If I can't save both of them then considering Gale wants to save Prim maybe if we work together we can get her out alive. She's only 12 after all.

We arrive in the Capitol today and that's when everything starts. Once we step off the train, we will have cameras on us.

It's 6:00am and I still haven't slept yet. I can't stop thinking about my promise to Peeta. To save Primrose. I promised him last year to save Poppy and I failed him. If I failed him this year then he probably won't even talk to me again. I've dealt with everyone leaving me in my lifetime, everyone around me died but if my children stopped talking to me then I would definitely be alone and that's one thing I don't want.

"Haymitch, get up!" I hear at my door. I hear the sound of heals walking back towards the dining cart seconds later.

Climbing out of bed, I realise just how cold the room is. I feel like I'm outside during winter in district 12. I pull on some jeans and a sweater, then pull on some socks and boots before leaving the room and walking towards the dining cart.

When I get there, Primrose is sitting at the table, moving around her food with her fork. Effie is sitting in a chair off to the side of the cart, applying make-up. "Can we talk to someone about heating up the train for next year? It's bloody cold in my room!" I say loudly.

"HAYMITCH! Stop cursing! And yeh I'll talk to the driver later." She smiles a little.

I narrow my eyes at her a little and walk towards the table. "Where's the boy?" I ask.

"I just woke him up. Primrose was already here when I got up." Effie replies. I'm not quite sure what time that woman wakes up. She always puts on a lot of make-up in the morning and takes a long time choosing her outfit but she always wakes me up at around 6.

I take a seat across from Prim and begin to fill my plate up with food. I look up to see her staring at me. I smile and she looks down.

Gale shows up 10 minutes later looking tired. "Couldn't sleep?" I ask him and he chuckles.

"Not at all, you?" He replies, taking a seat at the end of the table between me and Prim. I shake my head and he turns to Prim, "How are you this morning?"

"I'd be better if I was asleep next to my sister right now." She says.

"Yeh I know."

I decide to begin mentoring. "Right, now that you are both here, let's get down to business." They both look at me. "I promised to help both of you in every way I can-"

"Who did you promise?" Gale asks, cutting me off. "Was it Peeta?" I nod. "I knew it."

"Anyway, when we get to the Capitol, they will take you straight to the training centre in a car, when we get to the training centre, you will be put into the hands of your stylists and you must allow them to do whatever they do. Don't question it-"

"But-" Prim starts.

"No buts, trust me. Now after you've been remaked- as they call it-you will be taken down to the bottom floor and take part in the tribute Parade. I will be there to see you off. Then afterwards you will get to see your living quarters." They both nod. "But first let's all eat breakfast." I turn towards Effie. "Are you going to join is Effie?" I shout.

"No actually, I think I'm gonna stay over here." She says. I shrug my shoulders and begin to eat.

The day goes by quickly, full of prepping and camera and schedules. Eventually I'm on my way down to the Prep centre to take Gale and Primrose down to the bottom floor of the remake centre where all the tributes gather with the chariots. I haven't had a chance to see their costumes yet, having gone through prep myself. I haven't met their stylists yet either but from what I hear they are pretty good even though this is their first year. I've already met up with all the mentors again and they where all bubbling with excitement about district 12. I got a lot of publicity which got annoying after 5 minutes. I ended up leaving to find Effie.

When the elevator door opens, I walk out and round the corner. Effie said that she would meet me at the Prep room. She's probably already there, she's always early. It's annoying sometimes because even when I'm on time she says that I'm late because I got there after her.

Surprisingly though, she's not acting the same this year and when I walk in she just gives me a slight smile and goes back to looking at her clipboard. It probably has something to do with Rosie, I know that she must feel weird going home without Rosie these days.

We have to wait for a bit for our tributes so considering that we have some time to kill I decide to ask her. "Effie? Can I talk to you?" She looks up and nods.

I walk over to her and pull her towards a sofa. "What's wrong with you this year? You're acting different."

She looks down into her lap. "Well it's just... when I read Peeta's name off that slip of paper... that was it I knew that I was going to lose him when I hadn't really got the chance to know him because there is no way that he would let Primrose die. And then Gale volunteered and I felt like I'd been given another chance to get to know my son properly But then I realized that I wouldn't be able to because we live on 2 different sides of the country and that's the way it's gotta be. The only way I will get to know him properly is if he was reaped and I would feel guilty for the rest of my life if I pulled his name out of that bowl and he died..." She says.

I place my hand on hers and she smiles up at me with a tear in her eye. "Everything's gonna be alright Eff, he's a good kid and he loves you and you love him and that's all that matters. You know I've never seen that kid smile so much unless he is talking to you or Rosie."

"Really?" She asks.

"Yeh." She pats my hand with her spare one and looks up to me. I reach over and wipe her tears away.

"You know Haymitch, I miss us. I miss what we used to be like. When you first started Mentoring when you where 17 and I was 14. I was a trainee escort and I only saw you for like 2 days a year but at the time all I wanted to do was move to district 12 and be with you. And then I became a full escort at the age of 19, when you where 22 and I was so excited to be the district 12 escort. We would have so much fun. Wouldn't we? And then I got pregnant and everything changed." Her face drops.

"Effie it was a mistake, you know that. I couldn't let it happen again so I tried to shut you out of my feelings and go on like normal." It was a night, 17 years ago. During the games one of our tributes died and Effie had grown to like her, so when she died, Effie got very emotional and I was comforting her, then one thing led to another and we ended up both getting drunk and I just remember waking up the next day with Effie next to me, naked. It wasn't one of them 'Oh God what have I done' moments. It was more like 'finally' Because we both had feelings for eachother and it was bound to happen eventually I just didn't think anything would come out of it and then I got a call about a month later and Effie was telling me that she was pregnant. Obviously I was shocked but we worked something out and she got them to district 12 easily enough.

"Would it really be that bad if we where together again?" She asks.

"Yeh, I'm sorry but our family has been risking a lot for the past 17 years. Both of our kids have already broken the law. Snow is watching our family and we can't afford to screw anything up. Our kids come before anything else." I smile sadly and she mirrors the smile.

"Yeh I guess you're right I'm sorry for - " Effie starts but is cut off by a door.

"You can come in now if you want." An attendant says and we walk through the door to see our tributes. Gale and Primrose are dressed in black skin tight suits with some kind of black nests on their heads and a black cape that reaches the floor.

"Is that it?" I ask Cinna.

"No just wait for the tributes parade, I'm sure that you'd be surprised." And I'm sure I will.

(PEETA POV)

I wake up depressed. I'm depressed when I have a shower, I'm depressed when I brush my teeth and I'm depressed when I eat my breakfast. Altogether it's just a depressing morning. I don't know how I'm gonna cope with school today. Too many happy faces, Delly and her constant happiness and most of all, Katniss. She's probably going to be in school today and I have to sit next to her second lesson in Mrs Myers class.

My face is still covered in bruises and my body aches all over. For the last 2 days I've been waking up from nightmares so I'm absolutely knackered. I might ask to take the day off from the Bakery so I can sleep. I actually fell asleep this morning, eating my breakfast but then Rosie walked into the room and woke me up. "Peeta maybe you should take the day off school, you're clearly in no shape to go. You should get some sleep." She suggests, whilst getting the milk or the fridge. I know that it's almost empty and I have to buy some more on the way home.

"I can't, I have nightmares." I reply. "I'll buy some more milk on the way home later."

"Don't try and change the subject Peeta. You need to stay home." She says calmly.

I bang my hands down on the table and spring up. "DAMMIT ROSIE I SAID I CAN'T SLEEP!" I shout. She stands there in shock and I leave the room. I've always been told that when I lose sleep I get very cranky. I guess I just proved them right.

I grab my coat and bag from the hook and leave the house, slamming the door behind me. I was gonna set off for school soon anyway so I might as well go there now.

When I get to school it starts to rain, as it normally does these days. I decide to sit in the school yard for a while because it's empty.

As I sit there with the rain drenching me, I let the tears fall. I can't believe I just shouted at Rosie, she is the only person I have left and I just shouted and left. She must think I'm a horrible brother. I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't stay at home tonight. We used to have so much fun together when we where younger but I guess that everyone changes when they grow up. I bet she's gonna have something to say about me leaving like that. When everything in your life is going wrong, you can't help but shout.

The yard begins to fill and half the people look at me already once. I must look a mess. Bruised face, messy hair, crying and I probably look like death considering how tired I am. I catch sight of Rory and Vick walking to the school yard then Katniss comes through the gate a couple seconds later. I keep my eyes on her as she walks into the yard. She sees me and stops. She looks scared. I pull my eyes away from her and look for something else to stare at. Rosie. She's walking into the yard. She can't see me which I'm thankful about. She stops next to Katniss and hands her a very bag. Katniss takes it with a smile and I watch her lips as she says 'Thank you' then I focus on Rosie's lips and I see her say my name and then Katniss raises her hand and points at me. Oh crap. Rosie turns to me and I stand up to walk away. "PEETA I NEED TO TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW!" She shouts. Almost all the heads in the school yard turn to watch. I carry on walking, trying to get to the school doors as fast as I can. "DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!" I hear her quick footsteps behind me, "PEETA ABERNATHY YOU STOP RIGHT NOW!" She catches my arm and I spin around to face her.

"What?" I ask.

"YOU DONT JUST SHOUT AT ME AND THEN LEAVE! YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO IS GOING THROUGH A HARD TIME!" She shouts in my face.

"You don't even know what a hard time is." I reply. She's lived in the capitol most of her life. She has lived in luxury.

"Really? REALLY! ALL MY LIFE I HAVE BEEN A LIE! NOBODY WAS ALLOWED TO KNOW WHO I WAS! I DONT TECHNICALLY HAVE A LAST NAME BECAUSE IT CHANGES ALL THE TIME! I HAD NO FRIENDS AT HOME AND I USED TO LOVE COMING HERE TO SEE YOU BUT NOW YOU ARE ACTING LIKE AN IDIOT! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO MAKE YOU HATE ME SO MUCH! ALL MY LIFE I HAVE LOOKED UP TO YOU PEETA! AND FOR WHAT? JUST TO LET YOU DISAPPOINT ME!" The tears fall from her eyes as she shouts at me in front of half of the school.

"Rosie..." I start but she puts her hand up to stop me.

"NO DONT EVEN START PEETA! I HATE YOU!" She says and now I feel the tears threatening to fall down my face. 'Not in front of everyone' I tell myself.

"What?" I ask.

"I SAID I HATE YOU!"

I'm angry again for some reason, "WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED WHERE YOU BELONG! IN THE CAPITOL! WITH MUM!" Straight away I can hear murmurs in the growing crowd. 'Rosie is from the capitol?' , 'what is she doing here' , 'the capitol'

"YOU KNOW THAT I CANT GO BACK THERE! PRESIDENT SNOW WILL KILL YOU!" She shouts in defence.

"YEH WELL MAYBE IT WOULD BE BETTER IF I WAS DEAD!" I shout. I've been thinking this for 2 days now. It's not like anything would change if I wasn't here. People would get over it eventually. That's what people in district 12 learn to do. Get over things or go on with life.

"Don't say that..." She says, more tears falling.

I decide to tell her what I'm thinking, "ROSIE EVERYTHING ABOUT MY LIFE IS RUBBISH! YOU AND MUM LIVED IN THE CAPITOL WHEN I NEEDED YOU THE MOST AND I WAS LEFT ALONE WITH A PARENT THAT DOES NOT EVEN CARE! I STARTED WORKING WHEN I WAS 12 WHICH NO ONE SHOULD DO. MY GIRLFRIEND DIED LAST YEAR! MY BEST FRIEND WILL BE FIGHTING TO THE DEATH AT THE END OF THE WEEK! IVE LOST ANY CHANCE OF BEING WITH THE GIRL I LOVE! IVE NEVER BEEN SO TIRED IN MY LIFE. MY BODY ACHES ALL OVER AND MOST OF ALL, MY TWIN SISTER, THE PERSON I LOVE THE MOST, HATES ME!" It's all true and she knows it is.

"JUST BECAUSE I HATE YOU DOESNT MEAN I DONT LOVE YOU!" She shouts back.

"That's exactly what it means!" I say.

"NOW I WISH THAT I HAD STAYED IN THE CAPITOL! ATLEAST PEOPLE ARE NICE TO ME THERE!"

"FINE!"

"FINE! BYE!"

"BYE!" She turns away from me, crying, and starts walking towards the school doors but not before giving me a hard slap to the back of my head.

I turn around to everyone who has decided to stop and watch, "YEH I KNOW HA HA ROSIE IS FROM THE CAPITOL WELL GUESS WHAT! I AM TOO!" I know I'm probably going to regret that eventually but everyone says things they're not supposed to when they are angry.

I can hear Delly shouting my name as she pushes through the crowd to get to me. "Is it true?" She asks once she is in front of me.

"Yeah leave me alone!" I say, looking at the floor.

"How come you never told me?" She asks me, now annoyed.

"DELLY IF YOU ARE GOING TO SHOUT AT ME THEN YOU CAN JUST GO AWAY!" I'm really not up for anymore arguing but luckily she just leaves me to stand there as the crowd this out and everyone goes back to waiting for the school bell.

A couple minutes as I'm sitting on the bench under the willow tree at the back of the yard, Katniss walks over to me and stands in front me. "Hey Peeta I need to talk to you."

"What's wrong this time, did you not break my heart enough yesterday?"I ask, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Rosie told me everything. The truth." She says.

I sit up and face her as she takes a seat next to me. "What do you mean?"

She places her bag down on the floor next to a bunch of bright yellow dandelions and looks at me. "She told me that you weren't lying. That you do love me and so does Gale."

"It is true." I say truthfully.

"I just have one question? Why me? I'm not pretty, I'm not smart and I'm definitely not girlfriend material." She asks.

"It's not what you look at, it's what you see." I say with a small smile

"And what do you see?" She asks.

Now that she knows the I love her, I can tell her the truth, "I see... A girl... A girl that's been through a lot and is still going through a lot. A girl that's strong and a girl that scared, all at the same time. A girl that has a huge heart but doesn't want to use it incase she loses the people she loves. A girl that I love. A girl that I want and a girl that maybe one day I could call my girlfriend or eventually my wife." I think I may have gone a little far but at least she now knows.

"I'm never going to get married Peeta..." I had a feeling that she was going to say that.

"Well maybe that will change..." I say hopefully.

"I'm not going to change my mind..." She looks down at the patch of dandelions.

"Not even for me?" I ask and she doesn't looks up but still looks at the dandelions.

"No." She replies

"Okay." I decide to let it go because it's not like she's gonna change her mind in the next 5 minutes.

"I have one more question... You could have had any other girl in the district but you chose me. There's nothing special about me. Your a victors son and you chose a lonely girl from the seam?" I can't believe that she would think that I wouldn't like her just because she is from the seam.

"Because Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Inside and out." I know it was cheesy but I had practiced saying that to her.

She laughs a little at what I said and then her face turns serious again. "But what About Poppy?" She asks.

I think back to my relationship with Poppy and say as much as I can about her without boring Katniss. "I loved Poppy, she had an amazing heart and always knew what was wrong and always attempted to fix it no matter what was going on in her life an I miss her more than I've missed anyone else in my whole life but I always loved you more, you where always the one that I wanted to be with, I could see myself getting married to Poppy one day but everytime I thought about my future, it was always you, always you lying in the bed next to me every morning. Always you eating dinner with me, always you, it was always you." I expected her to smile but I watch as a silent tear falls down her face.

"But I was the reason that she went into them games." She says and my face drops even more if that's possible.

"No you weren't, I don't want you ever thinking that because it wasn't anyone's fault." I say, reaching over and patting her hand.

"Okay well I hope you know that I can't be in a relationship with anyone. I just can't." For some reason I laugh a little.

"Yeh I thought that was gonna come up but I'm going to wait for you even if it means forever. Right now we can just be friends if you want." I say looking at her. She looks back up me and smiles. Her eyes are so grey in this light.

"Ok. Friends?"

"Friends." I nod. We sit there in silence for a minute until I reach down and pluck a dandelion out of the ground. "I seem to recall that you like dandelions so... here you go." I hand it to her and she smiles.

"Do you know why I like dandelions?" She asks whilst looking at it.

"Because they are beautiful?" I ask laughing.

"Well obviously!" She laughs. "I'm sure you probably remember but I told you last week that they where my dads favourite." I nod. "He used to give me one every day we went hunting in spring and I kept hold of it until I started shooting. That's not the only reason... Do you remember... Erm... that day?" She asks. It sounds like it's hard for you to get it out.

"What day?" I ask.

"That day 4 years ago at the bakery?" She asks. I think I know what she is talking about.

"You mean the bread?" She nods. It was when I had just turned 12. I had only been working at the bakery for a week and it was around mid day so I was baking some bread and Rye thought it would be funny to knock me whilst I was carrying the tray so the 2 loaves of bread on it, fell into the fire. I got them out quick enough but they where already wrecked, we couldn't sell them. Aymee said that I should put them either in the bins or feed them to the pigs that used to be just outside the bakery. So I decided to feed them to the pigs because someone should get them, we can't waste them. Anyway, when I got outside, I saw Katniss sitting under one of the trees at the bottom of the garden, she was crying I knew that it's hard for her to get food so I threw her both of the pieces of bread. She looked at me and then took them and ran off. "I didn't even know you remembered about that." I say with a smile.

"How could I not remembered that. You saved my life. If it wasn't for you then me and my family would be dead right now. We would have died." I say.

"But It was only some bread I'm sure you would have survived until you went hunting again." I say.

"No you don't understand. I had been scared to go into the woods without my father. You saved my life because the next day when I came into school you where sitting on this bench. Do you remember that?" I nod. "Well when you looked up to me, I looked away and I caught site of a patch of dandelions next to the bench and I knew what I had to do to survive. It gave me Hope. If you hadn't looked at me I wouldn't have seen them so thank you."

"Your welcome, maybe I'll look at you more often." I say and she laughs. "Listen, could I sit next to you in class today because I'm obviously not on the best terms with Rosie or Delly at the moment?"

"Yeh if you want." She smiles. "So what gives you hope?" This question takes me of guard and I'm not sure what to answer.

"Erm... I don't actually know... Nothing yet I suppose." The bell rings as I'm speaking.

"Come on we better get to class." I say and I stand up, taking my bag off the floor and slinging it over my shoulder. She places the dandelion onto the bench, picks up her bag and follows me into the school. For the first time in 3 days I have a real smile on my face and I can't seem to make it go away.

When we walk through the school doors, I start to feel a tingling in the top of my nose. It doesn't hurt though and I've been getting pains in my nose for 2 days so I think nothing of it and carry on into the school.

"Peeta?" I hear Katniss say as we just get into the little waiting room where the town's people stay at break. It's already full of students but luckily none of my friends are in here neither is Rosie. I turn towards katniss to see her eyes wide open and her hand in mid air as if she was reaching out for me. "Your nose is bleeding..."

I reach up with my hand and find my nose covered in blood. "Oh God!" I say leaning my head as far back as I can. "I'll be fine."

"Let me clean it up for you, come on." She takes my arm and pulls my forward. She pulls me through a door and let's me stop by what I'm guessing is a sink because I can hear the water running as she leaves my side.

"Where are we?" I ask, curious. I didn't recognise the route we took here and I don't recognise the smell either.

"The girls toilets." That would be why I don't recognise it, because I've never been in the girls toilets. "It's alright there's no-one in here, everyone has gone to class."

"Good." I reply and let her clean up my nose. This is the second time in 2 days that someone has cleaned me up. That's the most times in a week, since I was 6. When she is finished I help her wash away the blood on the floor. "I guess that happened because of Rosie hitting me on the back of the head combined with what happened with my nose." I say with a small laugh.

"I'm really sorry about that. I didn't know that I broke your nose." She says.

"It's fine, it's in the past and my nose is fine now. It's just being tired and depressed all the time which is making me cranky and hard to be around. Rosie says I can be really horrible to talk to or even be with if I just lose one night of sleep." I say with a small laugh.

"Well maybe you should skip school." She suggests.

"I can't, I skipped school yesterday." I reply. I would be able to go home today if I talked to somebody about it but I don't feel comfortable skipping 2 days together. I'd feel like I've missed too much even though I don't actually pay that much attention.

"Well I guess we better get to class then." She says with a small smile and we walk out the girls bathroom and down the hall to Miss Ryker's classroom.

Miss Ryker is a 28 year old woman from the seam. She has black hair and bright blue eyes. When I was younger she was always my favourite teacher but as I got older she became more strict. She's not as strict as Miss Myers but she's not as nice as she used to be. "And where have you two been?" She asks as we get into class. "I wasn't even aware that you two where friends."

"Well I had a little ... situation..." I say to her.

"What type of situation?" The whole class is looking at us now and I catch sight of Delly sitting in my usual seat next to Rosie. They both look very curious.

"My nose was bleeding... Katniss was helping me clean it up." I say, slowly looking back to Miss Ryker.

"What happened to your nose, why is it all bruised?" Miss Ryker asks, motioning towards my face with the piece of chalk in her hand.

"Actually that's my fault." Katniss starts and I turn towards her. "On the night of the reaping, Peeta came to see me to ask how I was because of everything that happened even though he had lost somebody as well. I slammed the door in his face and broke his nose which I didn't actually mean to do." That's the most I have ever heard Katniss Everdeen say to a teacher.

"Well I'll let you two off the hook for being late because you have both been through a lot these past couple of days. Oh and Peeta, I heard about Mrs Mellark, she was a really lovely lady and I'm sorry. I know I've heard about it later than everyone else but I just wanted you to know how sorry I am." She says with a sad smile.

"Thank you. I'll let the Mellarks know." I smile and walk past her and sit in the normally empty chair at Katniss' table. Katniss takes the seat next to me and the lesson carries on.

The rest of the day goes by very slowly. Me and Katniss don't talk very much just a few comments back and forth during lesson and at lunch and break she disappears so I'm left eating alone. That is until River comes over and sits with me which I'm both thankful and unhappy about. I'm happy that atleast someone still likes me but I'd still rather be alone right now. In last lesson my nose decides to start bleeding again so me and Katniss have to go back to the girls bathroom and clean it up once again.

When school finishes Katniss disappears once again to go home and I'm left walking through the school yard and towards the bakery by myself. For the first time in 3 days it's not raining, is just cold. Very cold. I wrap my jacket tighter around myself and turn the corner into the town square. The square is empty and quiet. The sound of children leaving school can still be heard from here but there isn't any other sound. There are two armed peacekeepers outside the justice building as usual. Everything is normal except the lack of people. I look up to the sky to see a massive black cloud coming this way. There's a storm coming.

I quickly step into the bakery and pull my hood down. "Hi." I say to Rye, who stands at the counter, messing with a tiny tooth pick, with his head on the big wooden board that compensates as the counter top.

"Hey..." He says tiredly. "Got no customers today, only 2 people have come in."

"Yeh the square is deserted. Have you seen the sky? I think there is a storm coming." He looks up to me with a hopeful look in his eye. If there's a storm then that means that the shops in the town square don't have to be open.

"Really?" He asks.

"Yeh. I'm not sure how long it will last though." I take a seat at the table and lean my head on it, closing my eyes.

"Are you alright Peet?" I hear Rye asks.

I try to say something but all that comes out is a sound that resembles "Uhhhhhhhh."

"Peet?" He says louder and I open my eyes.

"Huh! What?" I ask.

"I think you just fell asleep for a second. What's wrong?" He asks, taking a seat across from me.

"I've had a very bad couple of days and I haven't slept since before the reaping. I'm bloody knackered and my body aches all over." I say. I lean my head back down on the table. I know I can't fall asleep in the front of the bakery but I just can't hold my head up much longer.

"Well why don't you go home, it's empty here so there isn't anything to do." I hear him say.

"Thanks Rye. Can I just go say hi to John and Chris first?" I ask and he nods. I pull myself up and drag myself into the back. John is sitting in his usual place on the sofa with Evelyn. "I just came to say hi. Rye said that I could go home if I want because I'm knackered. I've not been sleeping properly." I say and they both look up at me.

"Well I hope you're better soon Peeta." John says to me.

"I could give you some sleeping pills if you want? I think I have some left." Evelyn suggests.

"No it's fine, I've been getting nightmares, I don't think the sleeping pills will help them." I reply, with a little laugh.

Evelyn laughs. "How has your nose been?"

"Well it bled twice today but Katniss helped me with it so it's okay now."

"Katniss? My katniss? I thought she was the one that did it to you?" She asks, looking a little confused.

"Yeh but we sorted it out now. We agreed to be friends." I say with a small smile. "Anyway I really need to sleep so will you let Chris know that I stopped by?"

"Yeh of course." John replies.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I say and walk out.

I walk home quickly and quietly. When I leave town it gets louder. The seam people are out nearly all the time. Especially this time of year. They won't be for much longer with the storm coming. When I get onto the dirt path that leads past the hob and straight into the victors village - about a mile away - I see Katniss. She has her game bag slung over her shoulder, her head down and she's walking this way. "Do you want some help with that?" I shout. I really need to get home though, why did I say that. I guess my brain makes its own decisions when I'm tired.

She looks up to me and smiles a little. "No I'm fine, I'm dropping most of it off at the hob so it should be lighter in a couple of minutes."

"Ok. Well I'm really tired so I'm gonna get home. Oh and could you give mine and Rosie's game to the Hawthornes." I ask her. She bites her lip and looks down with a strange look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"It's just that... my mum is running low on supplies and she could really use the money to get more so would I be able to sell you these squirrels and give the next lot to Hazelle?" She asks.

"Well what about you give the squirrels to Hazelle and I'll pay for them?" I think that's fair.

"No I couldn't do that because then you wouldn't be getting anything." She says, shaking her head.

"Well how about you give me the squirrels, I'll pay for them and then I'll take them over to Hazelle."

"I can't Peeta. You still don't get anything..." she's shaking her head again.

"I'm trying to help Katniss." The anger is rising up on me again. Damn it! I really need to sleep.

"Ok. Fine."

I smile and reach into my pocket, taking out some coins. She holds out her hand and I drop 5 coins into it. She looks at it in disbelief. "What are you doing?" She asks, now looking at me. "You normally give me three?"

"Yeh well now I'm giving you 5." I say. She shakes her head whilst placing the coins in her pocket.

"I'll take the squirrels over to Hazelle for you. You just get home and sleep." She says.

"Okay thanks could you drop of some money with Hazelle too?"

"Sure." I hand her another 5 coins and she pockets them. "I've never carried this much money before." She lets out a little laugh.

"Well I could always hand you everything I have so you can see what it feels like?" I laugh.

"You really have more on you than this?" She asks, with huge eyes.

"Yeh." I reach into my pockets and pull out the contents. Counting it, I get 12 extra coins. "Dad gives me a lot more money now so I normally have this much." I hand it to Katniss and she puts her hands out hesitantly. I drop them in her hands and she gasps. It's like seeing a baby with candy.

"This feels so strange." She says with a laugh. "Here take it back..." She quickly hands the coins back and slide them into my pockets. "Anyway I've go to get going."

"Yeh me too." I say and she walks past me. I carry on walking down the road and into the Victors Village.

The rain starts just as I make it to my house. It doesn't start slowly it just pelts down from the sky in sheets. I try the door but it's locked so midlife money in the lock and walk in. Shutting the door behind me. "ROSIE I'M HOME!" I shout through the house but I don't get a reply. That's odd, she'd always in when I get home. I can't say I didn't expect it though. "ROSIE?" I shout again but still no reply.

I'm about to walk upstairs to see if she is in her room when I hear a very faint beep from the left of me. I spin around and see a flashing light on the phone holder. I guess that means i have a message. Nobody has ever left me a message before. I step away from the stairs and walk towards the phone. I pick it up off the holder and press the button next to the flashing light. The phone rings a couple of times before I hear a familiar voice. 'Oh well I guess you're not at home. Obviously you're at the bakery. It's Rosie, if you didn't realise and I just wanted to let you know that I'm staying at Delly's tonight so that you can be alone for a while. Please get some sleep I can't deal with you when you're like this. I'm sorry. Bye.' I press the button again and it beeps again before falling silent.

I quickly dial in Delly's number which is written on a slip of paper that I taped to the wall so I could remember. It rings and rings but no-one answers. 'Ok I don't know how this works but I guess this counts as a message.' I say once it's beeped. 'Hello, Mr and Mrs Cartwright. Or Delly or Raab, who ever is listening to this. Would you hand the phone to Rosie please... thank you... hi Rosie it's Peeta. I hope you get this. I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry for shouting at you. Maybe you're right. I could spend some time alone. I hope you forgive me. I love you Rosie.' I hang up the phone and walk into the kitchen.

For the next couple of hours I bake as much as I can. Just as I turn the oven on, the thunder and lightening starts. I was always scared of it when in was younger and Rosie was too. When she still lived here we would just climb into my Dads bed but when she left I wasn't allowed so I just hid under my duvet and waited for it to stop. I think Rosie still is scared of it actually. No doubt if it is like this tomorrow she will climb in my bed. Rosie grew up a lot slower than I did so she is still a big kid at heart. Where as I have been told that I act like I'm 30 years old a lot of the time.

By the time I finish baking, it's 9:23pm and I'm that tired that even the kitchen floor looks comfortable. I leave the mess and drag myself up the stairs. Stripping off my clothes so I'm just in my underwear and collapsing on the bed. I fall asleep almost instantly.

_'I can see someone running. It doesn't process who it is until I see 2 blonde braids flow quickly into my line of vision. Prim. She is running away from something and for once it's not me. I'm up high. Really high watching it all happen. I'm even higher then the trees. _

_Cato, the male tribute from district 2 comes crashing through the bushes, running straight for Prim. I want to do something but I'm paralysed. Gale steps in front of Prim and she stops. I hear a scream and she drops dead. Cato then shoots an arrow through Gales heart and he drops dead. That's when I move. I'm falling from the sky. I let out a loud scream and Cato looks up. "Just in time!" He shouts as I hit the ground. I pull myself to my feet surprisingly easily and face him. "Your turn." Someone hits me really hard over the head and I fall to the ground again. I can't feel it but I can hear them hitting me over and over again. A loudish banging sound.' _

I jolt awake. I don't know if it's my imagination or if I'm still dreaming but I can't still hear the banging sound. This time though I recognise it as the door. Just endless banging. Who ever it is, is not pausing to take a break. I turn towards the clock. 11:49pm. I groan and climb out of bed. Will I ever get some sleep. I pull on a shirt and walk out my bedroom in just a shirt and my under shorts. When I get to the top of the stairs the banging stops. I hear bare footed steps on the front porch and then silence. I can still hear the thunder and lightening.

I walk to the door and unlock it. There is some one sitting on the steps with their head in their hands. I recognise her straight away. "Katniss?"

She spins around really quickly and unsuccessfully tries to stand up. "Peeta!" She shouts scrambling to her feet and standing in front of me. She is drenched from head to toe and has tears streaming down her face. She's in her pyjamas, which consists of some black shorts and a green woolly jumper which is too big for her. I'm pretty sure that I used to have a jumper like that. "I'm sorry I didn't know who to turn to. I have no one else. Can I stay here? I can't go back home!" She says quickly.

"Of course come in!" I stand aside to give her enough room to enter and she walks in.

"Thank you!" She says.

"No problem." I walk her into the kitchen where she takes a seat at the table. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"In a minute." She replies and leans her head down on the table, still crying.

"Ok I'll make us some hot chocolate then we can get you dried." I suggest, walking away to make it. "By the way is that my jumper?" I ask, trying to change the conversation.

She looks up to me with a slight smile on her face, "Yeh, Rosie gave it to me last night. It was cold in my bedroom and I was going to sleep in the jumper because it's warm. You don't mind do you?"

"No of course not, I don't wear it anyway." I pour some water in a pan and place it on the stove and put two spoons of hot chocolate in each cup before turning around to her whilst leaning against the counter top, "Maybe we can get you another one of my jumpers whilst that one dries tonight."

She smiles, "Thank you that would be nice."

I turn back around when the water finishes and turn off the stove."Well I do have a lot of jumpers." I let out a little laugh whilst pouring the water into the cups and giving them a little stir.

I walk back over to the table and hand Katniss her cup and she automatically wraps her hands around it. "Thanks." She mumbles.

I take a seat across from her and speak. "So, what happened at home?"

She takes a breath before speaking. "Well I was just about to go to bed, Hence the pyjamas. When my mum asked to talk to me. I sat down next to her and she said 'I know we are all going through a hard time right now but I think you deserve to know.' Which I was very confused about. Then she said, 'I loved your dad with all my heart but now that I've got through the depression I think it's time to move on.' I asked her what she meant and she said that she is getting re-'married and ... I screamed at her." She looks back down at her cup.

"Who is she marrying?" I ask curiously.

She looks back up to me, "John Mellark." I feel my mouth drop as I sit there in disbelief.

"What!" I reply almost instantly.

"Yeh that's what I was like. Johns wife only just died and I feel like my mother is betraying my dad. I mean, she could have chose somebody worse but that's not the point! My dad was everything to me and her and I don't understand how she can just throw all that away, ever..." More tears fall from her eyes and splash onto the table, then her face turns angry, "Nobody can compare to my dad, he was the greatest man I've ever known and if she thinks I'm gonna agree to this marriage then she's wrong. She told me that she is going to take the name Mellark and that me and Prim should do that same, if prim ever even makes it back that is. She can get married to him if she wants but if she thinks that I am going to take the name Mellark then she is wrong because I won't! I can't even look at her right now! As if she has time to think about anything else besides Prim at this moment! It's like she never even cared about us..." I reach across the table and place my hand on top of hers.

"I understand! If any of my parents where getting married to someone else I'd be pretty pissed off!" It's true I would be. I don't think my dad would ever get married to anyone but Mum lives in the capitol and she must have other people she wants to marry.

"She gave me her engagement ring and her wedding ring so that she can completely start new. I threw them right back at her. I knew I shouldn't have. She said that she still wanted to keep them but couldn't, she didn't say why. My dad would have spent years saving up for them rings and I just threw them back at my mum." She says, still crying.

I reach across the table with my other hand and take her other one in mine. "If you want my advice I think you should take the rings because if your mum wants to start new that's her problem but that doesn't mean you have to."

She looks up and smiles at me, "Thanks Peeta.

"No problem." I take my hands back and wrap them around my cup again.

"Anyway, yeh so I can't go home would it be okay if I slept here?" She asks.

"Of course, stay here as long as you want, I'm sure Rosie won't mind." I reply.

"Thank you so much!" She says with another smile. Then her face turns sad again and she starts to cry, "you're all I have left Peeta..."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"No it is. Dad died. Mum doesn't even care. Gale and Prim are in the Capitol. I only have you now and I have only known you for 2 weeks."

"I'm sure your mother cares Katniss." I get up from my seat and walk over to her, hugging her whilst she stays sat down, "it will be alright. I know exactly what your going through. You know, at this moment, you're the only person I have aswell."

"Really?" She pulls away and looks at me.

"Yeh." My face drops.

"Thank you so much Peeta for everything. Starting with the bread leading up to now. You have done so much for me and I'm never gonna be able to repay you."

"There's nothing to repay." I pull her out of her chair and hug her properly. Her arms go around my waist and mine go around her shoulders. She squeezes onto me really tightly as she cries into my shirt. Suddenly I'm very aware of the fact that I only have my undershorts on and she only has her pyjamas on but I have more things to worry about right now.

When her crying has subside I pull away and hold her at arms length. "Are you okay now?" She looks at the floor and I see her slightly shake her head so I pull her back towards me and kiss her on the head. She stops crying suddenly. That's the first time I have ever done that to Katniss and automatically feel like an idiot. She pulls away and sits down and I walk to my seat.

"So did you work things out with Rosie?" She asks a couple of seconds later.

"No she didn't come home from school." I reply truthfully.

She looks up to me. "Is she okay?"

"Yeh she left me a message saying that she was staying at Delly's so that I can have some time to myself."

"Well I could always find somewhere else to stay if you want to be alone?" She suggests. I laugh a little.

"No, it was getting kinda boring by myself anyway." I say and she laughs back at me. "Should we go upstairs and find you some pyjamas?" I ask after a minute of watching her laugh.

"Yeh sure." She leaves her cup where it is and stands up.

"Come on I'll show you." I stand up and she follows me out of the room and up the stairs. I take her to the room at the end of the hallway across from the bathroom and open the door so she can walk in, I lean against the door frame as she looks around the room. "We keep all our old clothes in here because it has the biggest wardrobe out of all the spare rooms. It used to be mine but than I had to swap it for the one that was originally in here because we had too many spare clothes... Anyway, Rosie has some jeans that might fit you."

"Yeh she gave me some yesterday, they where a little long but they where skinny jeans so they where okay. They where baggy on me but I'm very thin." She lets out a small laugh but I can't find the will to laugh along. She's thin because she's starving and that actually pains me. She stops laughing when she sees my face but doesn't say anything about my pained look.

"Well I'll let you choose some clothes, most of the clothes are in here." I pat the side of the wardrobe and she nods. "The underwear and the jumpers are in the drawers over there." I point across the room towards a chest of drawers that only contains 3 thin drawers. "Don't worry, the underwear is clean." I laugh a little but then stop myself when I realise that I'm talking about underwear to Katniss. My ears start to go red and I run my fingers through my hair as the embarrassment kicks in. I don't think she notices though. "Everything in this room still fits us but we don't wear it. Everything that doesn't fit us, we give to the clothes shop in town so everything in here should be okay with you, I'll wait in the hall. Oh and it gets quite hot here at night so I suggest wearing shorts or something for bed."

"Thank you, I'll be out in a minute." She smiles as I step out of the room and reach for the door handle.

"No problem." I pull the door shut and lean against the wall. I slide down the wall and sit on the floor, listening to the thunder rumble through the house.

A few minutes later, I hear the door open and I pull myself to my feet. Katniss walks distressed in a pair of Rosie's purple shorts and a black top that belongs to me. I smile. She smiles back messing with the bottom of the top in an attempt to straighten it or make it fit better or something like that.

"If you want, you can sleep in Rosie's room." I say and she looks up at me.

"I don't mind."

"Come on I'll show you. It's probably the best room to sleep in because she got a new bed and a mattress a week ago." I motion towards Rosie's room and and set off walking down the hallway. I just have time to walk in the room and switch on the light before the power goes out and we are plunged into darkness. "Wait here a second." I whisper to Katniss and stumble out of the room and into mine. I reach out and feel around for my bedside table. When I find it, I pull open the top draw and take out my torch. Everyone in district 12 is used to the power going out all the time so I keep a torch in my Room just in case. The Victors Village gets a lot more electricity than the rest of the district but it still goes out sometimes. I walk back into Rosie's room, using the torch to guide me. When I get there, I have the torch to Katniss and she automatically points out towards the wall with the big painting on.

"Did you paint that?" She asks, moving the torch around the wall to see every detail.

"Yeh, a couple years ago." I reply.

She moves the torch around again for a couple more seconds before stopping on my mother, "What if someone saw it? Wouldn't they guess who she is?"

"Well as you can see, I've painted her to look like a district 12 citizen. Me, Rosie and Dad are the only ones to have seen her without the makeup, wig and clothes on so I just drew that. I only saw her normally once because she was on her way from the train station and her make up got messed up so she took of her wig and sorted herself out. Rosie and dad have seen it loads of times."

"It's beautiful, you all look so happy." I see her smile through the darkness.

"Yeh it's not like that now." I reply, hanging my head low. She focuses the light on me and I feel blinded for a second before I look up and focus on Katniss' face.

"I understand." She gives me a sad smile and moves the beam of light back over to the picture.

I follow her gaze over to the wall, "I miss her so much all the time. Dad too. I miss what we used to be like. Me and Rosie always playing together, dad not drinking. We where all so happy." I feel a few tears fall down my face and I'm glad that it's dark so she can't see it.

"It's gonna be okay Peeta, I promise." She walks over to me and stand right in front of me, only few inches between us. I look down at her. I can just see the grey of her eyes through the darkness. "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay then it's not the end."

I decide to take a chance and say something that i would normally not say. "You know when you where asking earlier what gives me hope and I said I don't know?" She nods. "I think I just realised what gives me hope."

"What does?" She asks curiously.

"You do." She smiles a little a do suddenly feel the need to go on. "You do Katniss. Everything else in my life is bad at the moment except you." I smile but her face drops.

"That's really sweet Peeta, but - " I put my hand up to stop her because I already know what she is going to say.

"No I know, you don't want a relationship, I understand I just wanted you to know." She nods in understanding, "Anyway we should get to bed. We have school in the morning. Are you going to be alright tonight?"

"Yeh. I'm gonna find it hard to sleep with this noise." She says, talking about the thunder, "but : about be okay, thank you."

"Well I'll let you get to sleep then." I walk to the door. I'm about to close the door but she stops me.

"Erm... I'm not used to sleeping in a room alone, I've never done it before so would it be okay if I left the door open?" She asks.

"Yeh, that's no problem, I'll leave mine open too, if you want anything or if you can't sleep or anything like that then just come in and wake me up. " I smile.

"Do you want your torch back?" She asks.

"No it's fine, you keep it."

"Okay, Goodnight." She says, taking a seat on Rosie bed.

"Night. I'll have breakfast ready in the morning. I'll wake you up if you're not already up." I say and she smiles.

I smile and leave the room, my Room is straight across from Rosie and the needs are in line with either so when I sit on my bed, I can see Katniss during on Rosie's bed messing with the torch, trying to turn it off. Once it's off I see her silhouette against the moonlight in the window behind her. She slides backwards in the bed and lies down. I sit back myself and slide my legs under the covers. Lying down, I find myself unable to sleep so I just lie and think. I can't believe Katniss Everdeen is also in the room across from mine. I'm still not used to her being in my house. I wonder if she will like the idea of raising money for Gale and Prim. Of course she would, it's her best friend and sister. I could mention it to her at breakfast tomorrow morning. I hope she likes the idea. Eventually I force myself to go to sleep an I'm pulled back into a nightmare.

**I found it very hard to write this chapter for some reason but I hope you liked it :) **

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